Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/americanspiritOOstra 


THE  AMEKICAN  SPIRIT 


Copyright,  Pirie  MacDousld,  N.  Y. 


(^VnyvlS.ftVvpwvi 


< 


THE 

AMERICAN  SPIRIT 


BY 

OSCAR  S.  STRAUS 

Author  of  "The  Origin  of  Republican  Form  of  Govern- 
ment in  the  United  States,"  "Roger  Williams, 
the  Pioneer  of  Religious  Liberty,"  etc. 


NEW  YORK 
THE  CENTURY  CO. 

1913 


Copyright,  1913,  by 
The  Century  Co. 


Copyright,  190J,  1911,  by 

The  North  American  Rkvibw  Publishing  Company 

Copyright,  189J,  by 

The  Forum  Publishing  Co. 

Copyright,  1911,  by 

The  Vihreck  Publishing  Company 


Published,  April,  1913 


S 


DEDICATED 

WITH  AFFECTION  AND  ESTEEM 

TO 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  EINSTEIN,  Esq., 

A  PROFOUND  JURIST,  A  WISE  COUNSELLOR 

AND  A  TRUE  FRIEND 

O.  S.  S. 


2s 


351928 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  American  Spirit 1 

Address  on  Washington's  Birthday,  February  22, 
1912,  before  the  faculty  and  students  of  Brown 
University,  and  patriotic  societies.  Providence,  R.  I. 

HUMANITARIAX    DIPLOMACY    OF   THE    UXITED    STATES  17 

Address  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American  Soci- 
ety of  International  Law,  Washington,  D.  C,  April 
26,   1912. 

American  Commercial  Diplomacy 39 

"The  North  American  Review,"  August,   1907. 

Venezuela  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine 59 

"The  Forum,"  February,  1896. 

Growth  of  Americax  Pkkstige 79 

Address  at  the  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  the  State  of  New  York,  November 
17,  1910. 

Citizenship  and  Protection  of  Naturalized  Citizens 

Abroad 89 

Lecture  at  the  U.  S.  Naval  War  College,  Newport, 
R.  I.,  summer  course,  1903. 

Our  Diplomacy  with  Reference  to  Our  Diplomatic 

and  Consular  Service 123 

Address  as  President  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
American  Social  Science  Society,  1902. 

The  United  States  and  Russia 147 

"The  North  American  Review,"  August,  1905. 

Our  Commercial  Age 177 

Address  at  the  Anniversary  Celebration  of  the  Sa- 
vannah Board  of  Trade,  Savannah,  Ga.,  April  3, 
1908. 

Commerce  and  International  Relations  .193 

Address  as  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  before 
the  National  Convention  for  the  Extension  of  For- 
eign Commerce,  Washington,  D.  C,  January  15, 
1907. 

Commerce  and  Labor 215 

Address  at  the  Annual  Banquet  of  the  National  As- 
rociation  of  Manufacturers,  New  York,  May  22, 
1907. 

vii 


iii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Peace  of  Nations  and  Peace  Within  Nations     .   231 
Address  at  the  National  Arbitration  and  Peace  Con- 
gress, New  York,  April  15,  1907. 

Religious  Liberty  in  the  United  States    ....  241 
Address  before  the  University  of  Georgia,  at  the  Cen- 
tennial Celebration,  June   17,   1901. 

The  First  Settlement  of  the  Jews  in   the  United 

States 271 

Address  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  November  29,  1905. 

America  and  the  Spirit  of  American  Judaism  .   285 

Address  at  the  Banquet  of  the  American  Hebrew  Con- 
gregations, New  York,  January  18,  1911. 

A  College  Commencement  in  Turkey 295 

Address    delivered    at   the   Commencement  of   Robert 
College,  Constantinople,  June   18,   1910. 

Roosevelt:     Hls  Catholicity  and  Statesmanship  .      .  309 
"The  Review  of  Two  Worlds,"  March,  1912. 

Babon  Maurice  de  Hirsch 321 

General  Baron  T.  Kuroki,  of  the  Japanese  Army       341 
Response  to  a  Toast  at  the   Banquet  to  the  Ambas- 
sador,   General    Kuroki,    and    Admiral    Ijuin,    New 
York,  May   17,   1907. 

Cardinal  Farley 349 

Response  to  a  Toast  at  the  Dinner  by  Non-Catholics 
to  Cardinal  Farley  on  his  Return  from  Rome, 
January  30,   1912. 

William  Lyne  Wilson:     A  Tribute 357 

Read  at  the  Authors  Club  in  New  York,  March  28, 
1901. 

Edward  Morse  Shepard:     A  Tribute 365 

Address  at  the  Memorial  Services,  College  of  the  City 
of  New  York,  October  29,   1911. 

John  Hay:     A  Tribute 373 

Address  at  the  Unveiling  of  the  John  Hay  Memorial 
Window  in  the  Temple  of  Keneseth  Israel,  Phila- 
delphia, December  2nd,   1906. 

The  author  wishes  to  acknowledge  the  courtesy  of  the  pub- 
lishers of  "The  Forum,"  "The  North  American  Review,"  and 
"The  International  and  Review  of  Two  Worlds"  for  permis- 
sion to  reprint  in  this  volume  the  articles  which  originally- 
appeared  in  those  publications. 


PREFACE 

The  essays  and  addresses  that  compose  this 
volume  I  have  entitled  "THE  AMERICAN 
SPIRIT,"  because  they  illustrate  different 
phases  of  that  spirit  in  our  economic  and  na- 
tional life  and  international  relations.  The 
problems  that  present  themselves  to  each 
generation  vary  with  the  tendencies  of  the 
times.  While  our  age  is  dominantly  com- 
mercial and  industrial,  it  should  be  our  care 
to  regulate  and  guide  the  forces  of  develop- 
ment so  that  they  shall  be  subordinate  to  the 
unchanging  principles  of  our  democratic  in- 
stitutiQus  and  so  that  they  shall  not  narrow, 
but  widen,  the  highways  of  opportunity  for 
the  average  man,  woman  and  child  of  this 
and  the  coming  generations.  The  equality 
of  political  rights  will  not  conserve  the  stabil- 
ity of  our  institutions  and  promote  the  happi- 
ness of  our  people  unless  the  gateway  to 
economic  betterment  remains  wide  open  to  in- 
dustry and  thrift. 

I  desire  to  express  my  appreciation  to  my 
esteemed  friend,  Dr.  Rossiter  Johnson,  for  his 
valuable  suggestions  and  for  his  aid  in  read- 
ing the  proofs  of  this  volume. 

Oscar  S.  Straus. 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 


THE 
AMERICAN  SPIRIT 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ONE  hundred  and  eighty  years  have 
passed  since  the  birth  we  are  com- 
memorating to-day  (Washington's),  yet  what 
is  that  period  but  a  brief  span  in  the  march 
of  mankind?  We  are  especially  blessed  in  the 
fact  that  our  entire  history  is  an  open  and 
legible  book,  the  records  of  which  are  not 
blurred  by  age  or  mystified  by  tradition.  The 
lives  of  the  fathers  are  set  in  frames  of  real- 
ity, and  as  long  as  we  keep  fresh  their  mem- 
ories they  will  guide  us  in  our  patriotic  efforts 
to  steer  the  Ship  of  State  by  the  light  of  their 
experience,  their  wisdom  and  their  foresight. 
There  is  a  story  of  an  Irish  visitor  to  the  Brit- 
ish Museum,  who  touched  his  hat  to  the  statue 
of  Nero;  he  said  in  explanation  that  he  was 
afraid  the  old  fellow  might  come  in  power 

3 


4  THE  MIERICAN  SPIRIT 

again.  To-day  we  reverently  touch  our  hats 
to  Washington  with  the  hope  and  prayer  that 
he  may  remain  in  power  from  generation  to 
generation. 

Each  generation  has  its  own  problems  to 
face,  and  upon  the  correctness  of  their  solu- 
tion depends  the  stability  and  welfare  of  the 
State.  The  trials  of  adversity  fell  upon  the 
fathers ;  the  trials  of  prosperity  are  ours.  It 
was  theirs  to  lay  the  foundations  of  liberty 
under  popular  government;  it  is  ours  to  pre- 
serve it  under  the  ever-changing  conditions 
that  confront  the  march  of  civilization.  Since 
the  day  when  "Washington,  by  the  unanimous 
choice  of  the  representatives  of  the  nation, 
was  elected  as  the  first  Chief  Executive  of  the 
Republic,  we  have  grown  in  population  from 
fewer  than  four  millions  to  ninety-six  millions 
on  this  continent,  exclusive  of  our  island  pos- 
sessions, and  in  territory  from  thirteen 
sparsely  settled  States  along  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board, to  a  realm  reaching  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  and  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf. 
We  have  multiplied  the  power  of  man  a  hun- 
dred-fold by  steam,  electricity,  and  water, 
multiplied  the  productivity  of  the  earth,  and 
lengthened  the  years  of  life  by  searching  out 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  5 

the  causes  of  disease  and  providing  against 
them.  These  and  countless  others  are  the  tri- 
umphs of  the  past  hundred  years,  most  of 
them  within  the  lifetime  of  many  who  are  still 
active  in  striving  and  hopefully  looking  for 
additional  adaptation  of  the  forces  of  nature 
to  the  uses  of  man. 

One  of  the  chief  concerns  of  man  in  all  ages 
and  climes  has  been  the  development  of  a  sys- 
tem of  civil  society  to  unite  men  under  some 
form  of  orderly  administration  or  government 
for  security  or  for  aggression.  Under  all  sys- 
tems— whether  under  chiefs,  tyrants,  oli- 
garchs, kings,  emperors,  or  czars,  whether  as 
tribes,  clans,  states,  or  nations — the  liberty 
and  welfare  of  the  individual  have  been 
largely  sacrificed  or  subordinated  to  defensive 
or  offensive  purposes,  for  the  glorification  or 
the  security  of  rulers,  dynasties,  and  priv- 
ileged classes. 

The  most  fruitful  causes  of  war  have  been 
race-hatred,  national  animosities,  and  reli- 
gious hostilities.  Church  and  State  in  every 
country,  civilized  and  uncivilized,  were  so 
closely  allied  that  they  kept  the  world  in  con- 
stant antagonism,  and  made  patriotism  a 
cloak  for  persecution,  and  persecution  a  badge 


6  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

for  patriotism.  Here  in  this  city  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six  years  ago,  the  crude  but 
distinct  foundations  were  laid  upon  which  was 
first  organized  a  political  community  that  not 
only  separated  Church  and  State,  but  secured 
to  every  member  thereof  absolute  liberty  of 
conscience.  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 
God,"  and  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself,"  were  first  rightly  interpreted  and 
righteously  applied  by  a  second  Moses — the 
apostle  of  the  American  system  of  a  free 
Church  in  a  free  State,  the  immortal  Roger 
Williams.  He  consecrated  this  spot,  this  set- 
tlement of  Providence,  as  "a  shelter  to  the 
poor  and  the  persecuted,  according  to  their 
several  persuasions,"  where  "all  men  may 
walk  as  their  conscience  persuade  them,  every 
one  in  the  name  of  his  God."  In  the  light  of 
its  development  on  this  continent  and  else- 
where, this  was  the  most  beneficent  contribu- 
tion that  any  conqueror,  king  or  emperor  had 
made  for  the  welfare  of  mankind  in  civil  soci- 
ety in  all  history. 

I  do  not  hold  that,  but  for  Roger  Williams 
and  the  Rhode  Island  spirit  of  religious  lib- 
erty, the  guarantees  under  our  State  and  Fed- 
eral  Constitutions   would  have   been  in   any 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  7 

respect  different  or  less  ample.  It  is,  how- 
ever, a  fact  that  the  spirit  of  Rhode  Island, 
which  promoted  the  material  prosperity  and 
spiritual  happiness  of  the  colony,  exerted  a 
wide  iniSuence  on  the  other  colonies,  in  con- 
vincing the  people  that  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State  did  not  lead  either  to  civic 
anarchy  or  to  freedom  from  religion,  and  it 
had  an  educational  value  in  preparing  the 
popular  mind  for  the  complete  divorcing  of 
Church  and  State,  as  the  only  polity  in  con- 
sonance with  true  democratic  equality  and  the 
liberty  of  the  individual.  Religious  tolerance 
in  Roman  Catholic  Maryland  and  in  the  An- 
glican colony  of  Virginia,  with  its  important 
body  of  dissenters,  contributed  materially  to 
the  same  end. 

From  the  foundation  of  religious  freedom 
to  the  foundation  of  political  freedom,  from 
Rhode  Island's  Charter  of  Liberties  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  was  but  one  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  years,  yet  they  were  years 
of  wonderful  growth  and  development  for  the 
ideals  of  freedom  in  a  virgin  soil.  The  little 
sapling  that  was  rooted  in  Rhode  Island  had 
grown  to  a  majestic  oak  whose  branches 
spread  over  the  thirteen  States,  typifying  in 


8  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

its  strength  and  grandeur  that  religious  and 
civil  liberty  are  one  and  inseparable.  The 
War  of  Independence  was  inspired  by  the  dis- 
tinct hope  and  purpose  to  enlarge  and  secure 
individual  freedom,  and  that  hope  was  by 
wise  men,  with  prophetic  statesmanship,  de- 
veloped into  a  reality  in  the  charter  of  our 
confederated  unity,  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  whose  preamble  recites  that  it 
is  adopted  in  order  "to  secure  the  blessings 
of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  to  our  posterity." 
Unlike  the  republics  of  history,  which  were 
governments  either  of  city-states  or  of  cir- 
cumscribed areas,  or  werfe  undemocratic  re- 
publics of  aristocratic  classes,  it  was  reserved 
for  our  fathers  to  build  a  democratic  republic 
for  the  equal  rights  of  all  men,  and  to  rest  its 
foundations  upon  the  broad  base  of  a  com- 
mon humanity.  In  order  that  democratic  gov- 
ernment might  avoid  the  errors  and  escape 
the  disasters  of  ancient  republics  and  be  ap- 
plied to  the  government  of  a  continent  with 
an  ever-growing  population,  the  representa- 
tive system  was  adopted  for  each  unit  and  for 
the  whole,  so  that  the  governing  body  became, 
as  it  were,  a  reduced  photograph  of  the  peo- 
ple in  their  individual  and  collective  capacity. 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  9 

Universal  suffrage,  like  freedom  of  the  will, 
has  its  pitfalls  and  dangers  and  accentuates 
the  prophetic  warning  that  ''eternal  vigilance 
is  the  price  of  liberty."  At  no  time  in  our 
history  has  that  vigilance  been  more  incum- 
bent upon  the  people  of  this  country  than  now. 
We  must  not  forget  that  at  no  time  in  history 
were  the  forms  of  government  subjected  to 
more  careful  study  and  analysis  than  by  the 
fathers  of  our  republic,  and  by  the  members 
of  the  Convention  that  debated  and  framed 
the  Constitution.  The  republics  of  ancient 
and  modern  times  were  subject  to  dissection 
and  most  discriminating  scrutiny,  to  discover 
the  true  causes  of  their  decline  and  subver- 
sion; the  Federalist  is  a  monument  to  that 
study. 

That  popular  government  is  subject  to  per- 
version and  abuse,  we  fully  recognize.  We 
have  constant  reminders  and  examples  abun- 
dant, none  more  prolific  than  in  our  municipal 
administration  and  in  the  corrupting  powers 
of  the  "bosses"  who  enrich  themselves  by  be- 
coming the  willing  tools  of  predatory  wealth, 
which  gives  them  the  means  to  purchase  the 
elective  power  of  the  ignorant  and  the  cor- 
rupt.   This  is  not  the  fault  of  our  democratic 


10  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

system,  but  is  directly  due  to  the  neglect  on 
the  part  of  the  average  citizen  of  his  civic 
duties,  so  that  the  government,  instead  of  be- 
ing representative  of  the  people's  best  inter- 
ests, becomes  a  prey  to  a  conspiracy  against 
those  interests.  But  at  no  time,  and  in  no 
State  where  such  abuses  have  arisen,  have 
they  been  able  to  stand  against  the  aroused 
public  conscience  of  the  electorate,  which  fact 
is  itself  the  best  proof  that  the  fault  does  not 
rest  with  the  system,  but  with  the  electorate 
pure  and  simple. 

We  refer  with  pride  to  our  vast  resources, 
our  wealth,  our  population,  our  national 
greatness  and  potentiality.  An  extravagant 
indulgence  in  modesty  and  humility  has  never 
been  an  American  characteristic;  our  patri- 
otic fete  days  have  stimulated  a  self -conscious- 
ness and  a  sense  of  reliance  which,  though  se- 
verely criticized  abroad,  finds  ample  support 
in  our  achievements  and  in  our  history.  So 
long  as  we  keep  alive  the  spirit  that  guided 
us  in  the  past,  and  adapt  it  to  problems  that 
confront  us,  we  need  not  fear  our  ability  to 
find  a  solution  that  will  make  our  greatness 
contribute  to  our  true  national  grandeur. 
No  greater  calamity  can  befall  a  nation  than 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  11 

to  cut  itself  off  from  all  vital  connection  with 
its  own  past,  as  France  did  in  her  Revolution. 
We  have  freely  received  from  all  nations  the 
immigrant  and  the  refugee  from  persecution 
and  intolerance,  and  have  endowed  him  with 
the  rights  of  man  and  incorporated  him  into 
our  political  system.  These  immigrants  have 
found  all  our  industries  open  to  them,  and  our 
public  schools  free  to  their  children,  and  what- 
ever evils  resulting  from  congestion  their 
numbers  may  from  time  to  time  have  caused, 
these  are  only  temporary,  they  disappear  in 
the  great  melting-pot  of  assimilation,  and  in 
a  patriotic  devotion  to  the  blessings  of  Amer- 
ican liberty. 

We  must  not  forget  that  the  newcomers  in 
every  crisis  of  our  history,  in  peace  and  in 
war,  have  contributed  even  beyond  their  quota 
to  our  economic  welfare  and  to  the  support 
of  the  government.  The  War  Department,  in 
a  memorandum  issued  in  1905,  estimated  that 
the  total  number  of  persons  enrolled  in  the 
military  and  naval  service  of  the  United 
States  during  the  Civil  War  was  2,213,365; 
and  of  this  number,  according  to  the  deduc- 
tion made  in  1908  by  0.  P.  Austin,  Chief  of 
the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  from  all  available 


12  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

data,  the  percentage  of  persons  of  foreign 
birth  was  not  less  than  20  and  not  more  than 
25.  Therefore  the  total  number  of  persons  of 
foreign  birth  in  the  Federal  service  during  the 
Civil  War  was  approximately  a  half  million. 
President  Lincoln  in  his  messages  referred  re- 
peatedly with  gratitude  to  the  great  help  that 
the  newcomers  rendered  the  country,  and  in 
his  annual  message  of  1864  he  said,  ''I  regard 
our  immigrants  as  one  of  the  principal  re- 
plenishing streams  which  are  appointed  by 
Providence  to  repair  the  ravages  of  internal 
war  and  its  waste  of  national  strength  and 
health." 

The  American  ideal  of  the  freedom  of  the 
individual  includes  the  right  of  migration. 
This  was  recognized  from  the  beginning,  and 
by  the  Act  of  July  27,  1868,  which  is  incor- 
porated in  the  Federal  Revised  Statutes,  it 
is  provided: 

"The  right  of  expatriation  is  a  natural  and  in- 
herent right  of  all  people,  indispensable  to  the  en- 
joyment of  the  rights  of  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness.  .  .  .  Therefore  any  declaration, 
instruction,  opinion,  order  or  decision  of  any  officer 
of  the  United  States  which  denies,  restricts,  impairs 
or  questions  the  right  of  expatriation  is  declared 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  13 

inconsistent  with  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Republic. ' ' 

As  recently  as  December  last  (1911),  in 
order  to  uphold  and  maintain  the  sanctity  and 
solidarity  of  our  citizenship  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  to  prevent  arbitrary  discrimina- 
tion by  Russia  against  certain  classes  of  our 
citizens  on  the  basis  of  race,  and  against  other 
classes  on  the  basis  of  religion,  contrary  to 
the  express  terms  of  our  commercial  treaty  of 
1832,  our  Government  gave  notice  to  Russia  of 
its  termination,  thus  emphasizing  our  historic 
position,  and  declaring  that  wherever  human 
and  material  interests  conflict,  we  place  human 
rights  above  property,  ''the  man  above  the 
dollar.'' 

We  are  a  commercial  nation,  but  not  a  com- 
mercialized people.  The  American  spirit  in 
peace  and  war  is  a  spirit  of  liberty  and  hu- 
manity. No  war,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  our  war  with  Mexico,  was  ever  begun  by 
us  except  to  vindicate  human  rights.  For  this 
we  entered  upon  war  with  Great  Britain  in 
1812,  the  Civil  War  of  1861,  and  the  war  with 
Spain  in  1898.  To  secure  these  rights  in 
peace  and  friendship,  we  were  foremost 
among  the  nations  to  advance  the  cause  of  ar- 


14  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

bitration,  and  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Hague  Tribunal;  under  the  inspiration  and 
leadership  of  President  Taft,  we  have  negoti- 
ated treaties  of  arbitration  for  all  interna- 
tional differences,  including  questions  of 
honor  and  of  vital  interests,  with  Great  Brit- 
ain and  with  France.  Far  greater  and  more 
lasting  will  be  our  glory  and  our  services  ren- 
dered to  mankind  than  the  decisive  battles  of 
the  world  shed  upon  the  victorious  nations,  if 
we  falter  not  in  the  conclusion  of  these  treaties, 
thereby  leading  the  way  in  bringing  the  na- 
tions from  the  horrors  of  war,  under  the 
majesty  of  the  Law.  Then  verily,  as  Sumner 
prophesied,  will  it  become  true  that  "The  ex- 
ample of  the  United  States  will  be  more  puis- 
sant than  army  or  navy  for  the  conquest  of 
the  world." 

To  sum  up  in  conclusion  the  great  epochs 
of  our  history  from  the  earliest  times  to  our 
day,  these  have  been,  the  establishment  of  re- 
ligious liberty,  the  securing  of  our  political 
independence,  the  formation  of  a  Confeder- 
ated Republic  under  a  written  constitution, 
the  abolition  of  slavery  and  the  preservation 
of  the  Union,  the  vitalization  of  the  principles 
of  social  justice,  and  our  leadership  in  pro- 


d 


THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT  15 

moting  arbitration,  the  pathway  to  peace 
among  the  nations.  These  are  the  glorious 
contributions  that  our  country  has  made  to 
the  welfare  of  her  people  and  of  mankind. 


II 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES 


II 

HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

AS  the  nations  come  into  closer  contact  by- 
reason  of  the  rapidity  of  inter-communi- 
cation and  the  growth  of  international  inter- 
ests, political  and  commercial,  the  meaning  of 
the  phrase  ''family  of  nations"  assumes  a 
more  real  significance,  and  in  a  progressing 
degree  the  welfare  of  each  is  bound  up  with 
the  welfare  of  all.  "World  politics"  exerts 
more  and  more  influence  and  control  over  the 
relations  of  nations.  Independence,  in  inter- 
national law,  signifies  that  each  sovereign  state 
has  complete  liberty  to  manage  its  affairs  ex- 
ternally and  internally,  as  it  may  wish.  While 
this  is  the  general  theory,  as  a  matter  of  fact 
international  relations  are  primarily  con- 
trolled by  national  interests  modified  by  the 
collective  obligations  of  each  nation  to  all  the 
others.  National  independence,  like  personal 
liberty,  is  not  in  fact  unrestricted,  but  is  a  con- 
dition modified  and  limited  by  the  rights  and 

19 


20  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

interests  of  other  independent  states.  The 
highest  law  of  nations  is  self-preservation,  and 
in  order  to  protect  and  conserve  its  national 
entity,  a  state  is  justified  in  going  to  war,  and, 
as  the  greater  includes  the  lesser,  to  intervene 
in  the  affairs  of  other  states  to  control  their 
external  as  well  as  internal  affairs,  if  its  own 
sovereignty  is  menaced,  or  its  vital  interests 
are  in  jeopardy. 

This  intervention  may  take  many  forms,  and 
has  varying  degrees.  In  its  extreme  form  it 
implies  the  ultimate  and  even  the  immediate 
use  of  force,  dependent  upon  circumstances. 
It  may  be  mandatory  or  dictatorial.  In  its 
lesser  forms  it  assumes  the  right  to  interfere 
with  the  action  of  another  state,  be  that  action 
within  the  state  itself  or  in  its  relations  with 
other  states.  A  distinction  is  drawn,  and 
properly  so,  between  intervention — or  dicta- 
torial interference  in  the  relations  of  other 
states,  or  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  another 
state  contrary  to  its  will — and  the  right  of  in- 
tercession, to  protest  against  action  or  con- 
templated action,  to  make  a  tender  of  good 
offices,  to  act  as  mediator,  to  express  sym- 
pathy for  the  suffering,  et  cetera.  In  fact,  the 
chief  function  of  diplomacy  is,  by  timely  pro- 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY      21 

test,  by  mediation,  or  by  the  tender  of  good 
offices,  and  by  the  exercise  of  those  functions 
which,  for  the  lack  of  a  better  term,  may  be 
called  diplomatic  as  distinguished  from  man- 
datory or  dictatorial  intervention,  to  prevent 
a  condition  which,  if  not  checked  or  adjusted, 
might  provoke  serious  international  irritation 
and  possibly  induce  active  intervention  and 
war.  The  grounds  for  intervention  depend 
upon  circumstances,  upon  international  inter- 
ests, and  upon  the  enlightened  public  opinion 
of  the  civilized  world.  In  other  words,  inter- 
vention is  by  right  when  it  is  necessary  for 
self-preservation;  and  secondarily,  since  the 
European  "balance  of  power"  was  devised  to 
prevent  or  hold  in  check  the  preponderance 
of  any  single  power,  it  is  agreed  by  the  public 
law  of  European  states  that  the  right  of  in- 
tervention exists  to  maintain  this  status.  As 
distinguished  from  intervention  by  right,  there 
are  instances  where  intervention  is  justified  by 
the  enlightened  sentiment  of  the  civilized 
world.  Under  this  head  may  be  classed  the 
interventions  for  the  preservation  of  the  Otto- 
man Empire,  or  to  prevent  its  dismemberment 
in  the  interest  of  separate  groups  of  European 
powers. 


22  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

There  is  another  class  of  cases  for  which 
intervention  is  not  recognized  as  strictly  an 
international  right,  but  where  it  is  justified 
*'by  a  high  act  of  policy  above  and  beyond  the 
domain  of  law,'"  especially  if  such  interven- 
tion is  free  from  the  suspicion  of  self-interest 
and  is  not  used  as  a  cloak  for  national  ambi- 
tion, but  undertaken  solely  and  singly  in  the 
interest  of  humanity  for  the  purpose  of  end- 
ing revolting  barbarities,  inhuman  oppressions 
or  religious  persecutions. 

The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  review  so 
much  of  the  diplomatic  history  of  the  United 
States  as  directly  concerns  questions  of  hu- 
manity, where  our  government  has  made  re- 
monstrances, formulated  protests,  or  appealed 
to  enlightened  public  opinion  in  the  interest 
of  humanity,  to  put  an  end  to  oppression  and 
religious  persecutions.  No  nation  has  taken 
a  more  positive  stand  upon  the  principle  of 
non-intervention  than  has  the  United  States 
from  its  foundation,  on  frequent  occasions. 
This  principle  was  developed  into  a  policy  by 
"Washington,  notwithstanding  our  alliance  with 
France,  and  was  emphasized  in  his  Farewell 

1  Historicus,  Letters  on  Some  Questions  of  International 
Law. 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY      23 

Address.  Yet  no  nation  has  stood  more 
firmly  upon  the  right  of  expatriation  and  the 
protection  of  its  citizens,  native-bom  and  nat- 
uralized, in  foreign  lands,  than  our  own, 
which  protection  has  again  and  again  been  ex- 
ercised in  behalf  of  naturalized  citizens  who, 
on  their  return  to  the  country  of  their  origin, 
have  been  subjected  to  pains  and  penalties  im- 
posed chiefly  because  they  had  emigrated  and 
become  naturalized  in  the  country  of  their 
adoption  without  first  obtaining  the  consent  of 
their  country  of  origin.  From  the  many  defi- 
nitions of  our  statesmen  since  Jefferson  ex- 
pounded the  American  doctrine  of  citizenship 
and  expatriation,  I  quote  that  of  former  At- 
torney-General Caleb  Cushing,  in  an  opinion 
given  in  1873,  wherein  he  said: 

The  people  of  the  United  States  are  composed  of 
emigrants  from  Europe,  most  of  whom  expatriated 
themselves  in  order  to  escape  oppression,  or,  if  you 
please,  legal  impediments  to  personal  action  in 
countries  of  their  birth,  and  many  of  whom  were 
the  actors  and  victims  of  revolutions  or  of  civil 
wars.  .  .  .  The  doctrine  of  absolute  and  per- 
petual allegiance — the  root  of  the  denial  of  any 
right  of  emigration — is  inadmissible  in  the  United 
States.     It  was  a  matter  involved  in  and  settled  for 


24  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

us  by  the  Eevolution  which  founded  the  American 
Union.2 

In  1859  Mr.  Cass,  the  Secretary  of  State,  in 
his  instructions  to  our  Minister  to  Prussia, 
said:  "The  moment  a  foreigner  becomes  nat- 
uralized, his  allegiance  to  his  native  country 
becomes  severed  forever.    He  experiences  a 
new   political   birth.     .     .     .     Should    he    re- 
turn to  his  native  country,  he  returns  as  an 
American  citizen  and  in  no  other  character.'* 
The  American  doctrine  of  expatriation  was 
greatly  strengthened  and  expressly  adopted  by 
the  conclusion  of  naturalization  treaties  with 
the    principal    European    nations,    beginning 
with  the  Bancroft  treaties  of  1868  with  the 
North  German  Union.     This  was  followed  by 
the  Act  of  Congress  of  July  27,  1868  (Revised 
Statutes   §§   1999,  2000,  2001),  by  which  the 
right  of  expatriation  was  declared  to  be  an 
inherent  right  of  all  people,  and  that  natural- 
ized citizens  of  the  United  States  while  abroad 
should  be  entitled  to  receive  the  same  protec- 
tion of  person  and  property  that  is  accorded 
to  native-born  citizens.    It  was  further  de- 
clared that  whenever  any  citizen  was  unjustly 

2  Foreign  Relations,  1873.     Part  II,  1353. 


■■i 

i 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY      25 

deprived  of  his  liberty  under  the  authority  of 
any  foreign  government,  it  should  be  the 
President's  duty  forthwith  to  demand  of  such 
government  the  reasons  for  the  imprisonment, 
and  if  it  appeared  to  be  wrongful  and  in  viola- 
tion of  the  rights  of  American  citizenship, 
forthwith  to  demand  the  release  of  such  cit- 
izen, and,  if  the  release  was  unreasonably  de- 
layed or  refused,  to  use  such  means,  not 
amounting  to  acts  of  war,  as  might  be  neces- 
sary and  proper  to  obtain  such  release,  and 
then  to  communicate  all  the  facts  and  proceed- 
ings to  Congress. 

This  American  doctrine  of  expatriation, 
coupled  with  our  liberal  laws  of  naturaliza- 
tion, under  which  we  freely  received  the  emi- 
grants from  other  countries,  incorporated  them 
into  our  body  politic  and  endowed  them  with 
the  rights  of  citizenship,  naturally  had  the 
effect  of  more  directly  arousing  our  sympa- 
thies for  the  oppressed,  especially  in  lands 
from  which  refugees  have  come,  and  to  which 
after  naturalization  some  return  attracted 
by  the  suffering  of  relatives  and  friends, 
becoming  involved  in  revolution  or  in  ef- 
forts to  ameliorate  conditions,  and  thereby 
bringing  us  into  direct  relations  with  political 


26  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

and  religious  oppression  in  countries  where 
such  unfortunate  conditions  prevail.  The 
diplomacy  of  humanity,  to  a  large  extent  grow- 
ing out  of  such  and  similar  circumstances,  has 
made  a  stronger  appeal  to  our  sympathies  and 
had  a  wider  application  in  our  relations  than 
in  the  foreign  relations  of  other  countries. 
Another  class  of  cases  grow  out  of  the  fact 
that  for  seventy  years  some  of  the  largest 
American  Protestant  denominations  have 
maintained  in  Oriental  countries  religious, 
medical  and  educational  missions,  which  by 
reason  of  their  work  and  sympathy  for  their 
converts,  become  involved  in  the  chronic  dis- 
orders in  such  lands  and  have  to  appeal  to 
their  government  for  protection  and  redress 
for  the  loss  of  life  and  destruction  of  property, 
so  that  on  numerous  occasions,  when  diplomacy 
failed,  protection  and  redress  could  be  ob- 
tained only  by  a  display  of  naval  force. 

Upon  strict  legalistic  principles  it  is  very 
doubtful  whether  humanitarian  intervention 
can  be  justified,  but  international  relations  are 
not  wholly  controlled  by  the  principles  of  law. 
A  large  element  of  the  popular  conscience  at 
times  enters  into  those  relations  and  shapes 
the  action  of  states.    Hall  says: 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY       27 

The  opinions  of  modern  international  jurists  who 
touch  upon  humanitarian  intervention  are  very- 
various,  and  for  the  most  part  the  treatment  which 
the  subject  receives  from  them  is  merely  fragmen- 
tary, notice  being  taken  of  some  only  of  its  grounds, 
which  are  usually  approved  or  disapproved  of  with- 
out very  clear  reference  to  a  general  principle.^ 

One  of  the  earliest  incidents  in  our  diplo- 
matic relations  which  appealed  to  the  classic 
imagination  and  humanitarian  sympathies  of 
our  people  was  the  war  of  the  Greeks  for  in- 
dependence from  the  Turkish  yoke.  Resolu- 
tions of  sympathy  and  for  aid  were  presented 
by  Members  of  Congress  from  Massachusetts 
and  New  York  in  behalf  of  committees  of  cit- 
izens from  those  States,  but  the  House  took 
no  action  thereon.  President  Monroe,  in  his 
annual  message  of  December  3,  1822,  ex- 
pressed the  hope  that  the  Greeks  would  re- 
cover their  independence,  and  referred  to  the 
sympathy  in  their  favor  throughout  the  coun- 
try. Similar  reference  was  made  in  his  an- 
nual message  the  following  year.  John 
Quincy  Adams,  in  his  annual  message  of  1825, 
referred  to  our  sympathy  in  their  war,  and 
hoped  for  their  success,  and  in  his  annual  mes- 

3  Hall,  3rd  edition,  p.  288,  note. 


28  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

sage  of  1827  he  informed  Congress  that  ''the 
sympathies  which  the  people  and  Grovernment 
of  the  United  States  have  so  warmly  indulged 
with  their  cause  have  been  acknowledged  by 
their  government  in  a  letter  of  thanks." 

The  next  notable  instance  which  made  an 
appeal  to  the  humanitarian  sympathies  and 
liberty-loving  sentiments  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  grew  out  of  the  Hungarian 
Revolution  of  1848  and  commiseration  for 
Kossuth  and  his  associates,  who,  having  es- 
caped to  Turkey,  were  held  in  captivity  there. 
On  March  3,  1851,  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress passed  a  resolution  requesting  the  Presi- 
dent to  authorize  the  employment  of  a  public 
vessel  to  convey  the  captive  refugees  to  this 
country.  President  Fillmore,  in  his  annual 
message,  referring  to  the  grateful  acknowledg- 
ments Governor  Kossuth  had  expressed  of 
our  government's  interposition  in  behalf  of 
himself  and  his  associates,  said  that  ''this 
country  has  been  justly  regarded  as  a  safe 
asylum  for  those  whom  political  events  have 
exiled  from  their  own  homes  in  Europe,"  and 
recommended  to  Congress  to  consider  in  what 
manner  Kossuth  and  his  compatriots  brought 
here  by  its  authority  should  be  received  and 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY       29 

treated.  On  Kossuth's  arrival,  he  was  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Webster,  Secretary  of  State,  to 
the  President  and  was  received  by  the  Senate 
and  the  House,  and  afterward  he  was  officially 
entertained  at  the  Executive  Mansion  and  ban- 
queted by  the  House. 

It  was  soon  made  apparent  that  Kossuth's 
purpose  in  coming  here  was  to  induce  our  gov- 
ernment to  give  its  moral  and  material  aid  to 
renew  the  struggle  for  Hungarian  independ- 
ence, though  Mr.  Webster  and  the  President 
made  it  clear  that  our  government  would  not 
depart  from  the  traditional  policy  of  not  in- 
terfering in  the  affairs  of  other  nations.  Not- 
withstanding our  refusal  to  meet  the  hopes  and 
wishes  of  the  Hungarian  patriot,  whose  mas- 
terly oratory  and  picturesque  appearance 
aroused  the  admiration  and  enthusiasm  of 
many  of  our  foremost  men,  this  fact  and  the 
hope  that  was  widely  expressed  for  Hun- 
garian independence  so  offended  the  Austrian 
Charge,  Hiilsemann,  that  he  addressed  a  note 
to  Secretary  Webster  protesting  against  the 
honors  shown  to  Kossuth  by  our  government 
and  its  citizens,  and  especially  against  the  lat- 
ter's  speech  at  the  Congressional  banquet.  To 
this  Webster  made  no  reply,  and  thereupon 


> 


30  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  Charge  laid  his  protest  before  the  Presi- 
dent, whereupon  he  "v^^as  informed  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  State  that  the  government  would 
hold  no  further  personal  intercourse  with  him, 
and  that  he  must  confine  himself  to  written 
communications.  In  answer  to  this  notice  he 
addressed  a  note  to  Secretary  Webster  declar- 
ing that  his  government  would  not  permit  him 
to  remain  here  longer  "to  continue  in  official 
intercourse  with  the  principal  promoters  of 
the  much-to-be-lamented  Kossuth  episode." 

One  would  search  the  world's  history  in  vain 
to  find  a  more  striking  example  of  a  war  un- 
dertaken by  any  nation  from  motives  more 
singularly  humane  and  free  from  selfish  in- 
terests and  purposes  than  our  war  with  Spain. 
President  McKinley,  in  his  special  message  to 
Congress  of  April  11,  1898,  after  reviewing 
the  insurrections  and  revolutions  in  Cuba 
against  the  dominion  of  Spain  during  the  past 
fifty  years,  and  recounting  the  cruelties  and 
barbarities  which  shocked  the  sensibilities  and 
offended  the  humane  sympathies  of  our  peo- 
ple, recommended  forcible  intervention  as  a 
neutral  to  stop  the  war  ''according  to  the 
large  dictates  of  humanity."  The  grounds 
set  forth  by  him  justifying  such  intervention 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY      31 

were  summarized,  the  first  and  main  one  be- 
ing, to  quote  his  words :  ' '  In  the  cause  of  hu- 
manity and  to  put  an  end  to  the  barbarities, 
bloodshed,  starvation,  and  horrible  miseries 
now  existing  there,  and  which  the  parties  to 
the  conflict  are  either  unable  or  unwilling  to 
stop  or  mitigate. ' '  Congress  in  its  joint  reso- 
lutions which  authorized  the  war,  after  re- 
ferring to  the  humane  considerations  that 
prompted  them,  expressly  disclaimed  any  in- 
tention or  purpose  to  exercise  any  other  power 
or  control  in  Cuba  except  for  pacification,  and 
when  this  was  accomplished,  to  leave  the  gov- 
ernment and  control  of  the  island  to  the  peo- 
ple therein.  Subsequent  events  have  verified 
and  accentuated  in  every  respect  the  unselfish 
purposes  and  humane  motives  which  prompted 
our  government  and  people  in  the  making  of 
that  war. 

Our  humane  diplomacy  in  the  past  sixty 
years  has  many  times  been  extended  in  all 
Mohammedan  countries,  as  well  as  in  China 
and  Japan,  for  the  protection  of  our  mission- 
aries, and  the  good  offices  of  our  consular  and 
diplomatic  officials  have  been  employed  in  be- 
half of  converts  and  other  native  Christians. 
Such  good  offices,  when  tendered,  were  not  ex- 


32  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ercised  as  a  right  but  in  the  interest  of  hu- 
manity and  to  preserve  good  relations.  We 
have,  however,  refrained  from  going  to  the 
length  of  the  European  powers,  who,  by  a  sys- 
tem of  proteges,  extend  their  protection  even 
to  natives  of  such  countries  in  the  interest  of 
commerce  as  well  as  of  humanity. 

In  1840,  in  the  Presidency  of  Van  Buren, 
occurred  the  massacres  of  Jews  in  Damascus 
and  in  the  island  of  Rhodes.  Although  the 
life  of  no  American  citizen  was  involved,  Sec- 
retary of  State  Forsyth,  by  direction  of  the 
President,  instructed  our  Minister  at  Constan- 
tinople, David  Porter,  to  intercede  with  the 
Sultan  to  prevent  or  mitigate  the  horrors.  He 
said:  *'The  President  is  of  opinion  that  from 
no  one  can  such  generous  endeavors  proceed 
with  so  much  propriety  and  effect  as  from  the 
representative  of  a  friendly  power  whose  in- 
stitutions, political  and  civil,  place  upon  the 
same  footing  the  worshipers  of  God  of  every 
faith  and  form,  acknowledging  no  distinction 
between  the  Mohammedan,  the  Jew,  and  the 
Christian.  .  .  .  You  will  refer  to  this 
distinctive  characteristic  of  our  government  as 
investing  with  a  peculiar  propriety  and  right 
the  interposition  of  your  good  offices  in  behalf 


j 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY      33 

of  an  oppressed  and  persecuted  race,  among 
whose  kindred  are  found  some  of  the  most 
worthy  and  patriotic  of  our  citizens." 

No  people  have  been  oftener  compelled  to 
invoke  the  humanitarian  diplomacy  of  civi- 
lized states  than  the  Jews,  because  no  people 
have,  from  time  immemorial,  by  reason  of  race 
hatred  and  religious  persecution,  suffered  as 
they  have  from  inhumanity  and  oppression  in 
every  form  and  degree.  The  aid  of  our  gov- 
ernment has  been  more  directly  sought  than 
that  of  other  governments  in  recent  years, 
because  of  the  large  immigration  of  refugees 
driven  hither  by  restrictive  measures,  oppres- 
sions, and  massacres  in  Roumania  and  Russia. 
President  Harrison,  in  his  annual  message, 
December  9,  1891,  referring  to  remonstrances 
made  by  our  government  to  Russia  because  of 
the  harsh  measures,  known  as  the  May  Laws, 
being  enforced  against  the  Jews,  said: 

The  banishment,  whether  by  direct  decree  or  by 
not  less  certain  indirect  methods,  of  so  large  a  num- 
ber of  men  and  women  is  not  a  local  question.  A 
decree  to  leave  one  country  is,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  an  order  to  enter  another — some  other. 
This  consideration,  as  well  as  the  suggestions  of 
humanity,  furnishes  ample  ground  for  the  remon- 
strances which  we  have  presented  to  Russia. 


34  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

President  Roosevelt,  in  his  annual  message 
of  December  4,  1904,  referring  to  the  remon- 
strances of  our  government  by  reason  of  the 
massacres  in  Kishinef  and  in  a  hundred  other 
cities  and  towns  in  Russia,  which  so  shocked 
the  enlightened  sentiment  of  the  world,  said: 

Nevertheless,    there    are    occasional    crimes   com- 
mitted on  so  vast  a  scale  and  of  such  peculiar  horror 
as  to  make  us  doubt  whether  it  is  not  our  manifest 
duty  to  endeavor  at  least  to  show  our  disapproval 
of  the  deed  and  our  sympathy  with  those  who  have 
suffered  by  it.     The  case  must  be  extreme  in  which 
such  a  course  is  justifiable.     .     .     .     The  cases  in 
which  we  could  interfere  by  force  of  arms,  as  we 
interfered  to  put  a  stop  to  the  intolerable  conditions 
in  Cuba,  are  necessarily  very  few.     Yet  it  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  a  people  like  ours,  which  in  spite 
of  certain  very  obvious  shortcomings,   nevertheless 
as  a  whole  shows  by  its  consistent  practice  its  belief 
in  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  and 
of  orderly  freedom,  a  people  among  whom  even  the 
worst  crime,  like  the  crime  of  lynching,  is  never 
more  than  spasmodic,  so  that  individuals  and  not 
classes  are  molested  in  their  fundamental  rights — it 
is  inevitable  that  such  a  nation  should  desire  eagerly 
to  give  expression  to  its  horror  on  an  occasion  like 
that  of  the  massacre  of  the  Jews  in  Kishinef,  or 
when  it  witnesses  such  systematic  and  long-extended 
cruelty  and  oppression  as  the  cruelty  and  oppression 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY      35 

of  which  the  Armenians  have  been  the  victims  and 
which  have  won  for  them  the  indignant  pity  of  the 
civilized  world. 

The  Treaty  of  Berlin  of  1878,  which  fol- 
lowed the  Russo-Turkish  War  of  the  preced- 
ing year,  had  for  its  object  the  adjustment 
of  the  relations  of  the  Balkan  States,  to  free 
them  from  the  Turkish  yoke  and  at  the  same 
time  restore  the  European  balance.  This 
treaty  not  only  expressly  recognized,  but  ma- 
terially advanced  the  right  of  intervention  in 
the  internal  affairs  of  other  states  and  pro- 
vided for  extensive  guarantees  of  a  humani- 
tarian nature.  The  independence  of  Monte- 
negro, Servia,  Bulgaria  and  Roumania  were 
recognized  by  the  great  powers  upon  the  ex- 
press condition  that  there  should  be  no  re- 
ligious discriminations,  that  all  the  subjects 
of  the  several  states  should  be  guaranteed  the 
enjoyment  of  their  civil  and  political  rights, 
and  that  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  foreign 
powers  should  be  treated  without  distinction 
of  creed  on  a  footing  of  perfect  equality. 

The  persecutions  of  the  Jews  in  Roumania 
in  1902,  and  the  large  influx  of  impoverished 
refugees  to  our  shores,  shocked  the  enlight- 
ened sense  and  roused  the  humanitarian  senti- 


36  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ments  of  our  people.  Secretary  Hay,  taking 
up  the  subject  in  his  inimitable  and  masterly 
style,  addressed  an  instruction  to  our  minister 
to  Roumania,  for  communication  to  that  gov- 
ernment, and  at  the  same  time  forwarded  it 
to  our  ambassadors  to  the  several  signatory 
powers  to  the  Treaty  of  Berlin,  with  instruc- 
tions to  bring  it  to  the  attention  of  the  gov- 
ernments concerned,  with  the  hope  that  such 
powers  would  endeavor  to  induce  the  Govern- 
ment of  Roumania  to  reconsider  its  oppressive 
measures  and  restrictive  laws.  After  recit- 
ing the  wrongs  which  the  Jews  were  made  to 
suffer,  so  repugnant  to  the  moral  sense  of  our 
enlightened  age,  he  adds: 

This  government  can  not  be  a  tacit  party  to  such 
an  international  wrong.  It  is  constrained  to  pro- 
test against  the  treatment  to  which  the  Jews  of 
Roumania  are  subjected,  not  alone  because  it  has 
unimpeachable  grounds  to  remonstrate  against  the 
resultant  injury  to  itself,  but  in  the  name  of  hu- 
manity. The  United  States  may  not  authorita- 
tively appeal  to  the  stipulations  of  the  Treaty  of 
Berlin,  to  which  it  was  not  and  can  not  become  a 
signatory,  but  it  does  earnestly  appeal  to  the  princi- 
ples consigned  therein  because  they  are  the  princi- 
ples of  international  law  and  eternal  justice,  advo- 
cating   the    broad    toleration    which    that    solemn 


HUMANITARIAN  DIPLOMACY      37 

compact  enjoins,  and  standing  ready  to  lend  its 
moral  support  to  the  fulfillment  thereof  by  its 
consignatories,  for  the  act  of  Roumania  itself  has 
effectively  joined  the  United  States  to  them  as  an 
interested  party  in  this  regard.* 

Secretary  Hay,  in  his  instruction  to  onr 
Minister  to  Roumania,  discussing  our  pro- 
posed naturalization  treaty  with  that  coun- 
try, said:  *'It  behooves  the  state  to  scrutinize 
most  jealously  the  character  of  the  immigra- 
tion from  a  foreign  land,  and  if  it  be  obnox- 
ious to  objection,  to  examine  the  causes  which 
render  it  so.  Should  those  causes  originate 
in  the  act  of  another  sovereign  state,  to  the 
detriment  of  its  neighbors,  it  is  the  preroga- 
tive of  an  injured  state  to  point  out  the  evil 
and  to  make  remonstrance;  for,  with  nations, 
as  with  individuals,  the  social  law  holds  good 
that  the  right  of  each  is  bounded  by  the  right 
of  the  neighbor.  .  .  .  The  right  of  re- 
monstrance against  the  acts  of  the  Rouman- 
ian Government  is  clearly  established  in  favor 
of  this  Government. ' '  ^ 

Employment  of  the  diplomacy  of  human- 
ity, which  has  had  so  large  a  place  in  the  for- 

4  Foreign  Relations  of  the  United  States,  1902,  p.  45. 

5  Ibid,  p.  912. 


351928 


38  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

eign  relations  of  our  country,  has  been  im- 
measurably facilitated,  though  not  in  direct 
terms,  yet  in  the  spirit  of  the  provisions  for 
the  tender  of  ''good  offices  or  mediation"  of 
the  Hague  Convention  for  the  Pacific  Settle- 
ment of  International  Disputes.  These  pro- 
visions, recognizing  the  closer  ties  uniting  the 
family  of  nations,  reversed  their  attitude  from 
that  of  hostility  to  friendly  reception  of  that 
form  of  intervention  which  comes  under  the 
designation  above  by  providing  that :  ' '  The  ex- 
ercise of  this  right  [the  offer  of  good  offices 
or  mediation]  can  never  be  regarded  by  either 
of  the  parties  in  dispute  as  an  unfriendly 
act." 

The  enlightened  sense  of  the  world  is  the 
basis  of  international  morality,  and  as  that 
sense  finds  freer  expression  with  the  growth 
of  public  opinion  and  of  parliamentary  insti- 
tutions, the  forces  of  civilization  in  every  land 
will  supjDlant  more  and  more  the  doctrine  of 
expediency  in  international  relations  by  the 
principles  of  morality  and  humanity,  founded 
upon  justice  and  righteousness. 


Ill 

AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY 


Ill 

AMERICAN  COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY 

FROM  the  beginning,  our  diplomacy,  in  its 
aim  and  purposes,  was  commercial  as 
distinguished  from  political,  and  this  neces- 
sarily gave  it  the  character  of  sincerity  and 
straightforwardness.  After  our  independence 
was  established  and  we  entered  upon  life  as 
an  independent  nation,  our  first  concern  was 
to  negotiate  treaties  of  amity  and  commerce. 
The  first  of  these  was  our  Treaty  of  Amity 
and  Commerce  with  France  (1778),  by  which 
France  and  the  United  States  engaged  mutu- 
ally not  to  grant  any  favor  to  other  nations 
in  respect  to  commerce  and  navigation  which 
should  not  immediately  become  common  to  the 
other  party,  who  should  enjoy  the  same  favor. 
Historical  accuracy  compels  me  to  say  that  the 
aid  France  extended  to  us  in  our  Revolution 
did  not  arise  exclusively  out  of  sympathy  with 
us  or  from  sentiments  of  liberty;  underlying, 
if  not  superinducing  her  generous  assistance, 
the  remembrance  of  which  our  national  sense 

41 


42  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

of  gratitude  should  ever  cherish,  there  were 
substantial  reasons  of  commercial  interest. 
The  Revolution,  besides  affording  an  oppor- 
tunity of  weakening  an  enemy,  also  held  out 
the  probability  of  breaking  up  the  British 
monopoly  of  trade  with  the  colonies,  a  trade 
which  France  hoped  to  divert  to  herself. 

In  1780  the  earliest  opportunity  presented 
itself  to  our  country  to  join  in  a  European 
coalition,  the  ''Armed  Neutrality,"  an  agree- 
ment by  means  of  which  a  convention  was  en- 
tered into  between  Russia,  Denmark,  Sweden, 
and  Holland  to  protect  neutral  commerce;  it 
defined  contraband  and  declared  that  "free 
ships  make  free  goods."  The  United  States 
desired  to  take  part  in  this  concert,  and  sent 
Francis  Dana  to  Russia,  but  Russia  would  not 
receive  him,  and  our  adhesion  was  most  cour- 
teously rejected. 

Washington,  in  his  Farewell  Address,  out- 
lining with  statesmanly  foresight  our  national 
policy,  said: 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,  in  regard  to 
foreign  nations,  is,  in  extending  our  commercial 
relations,  to  have  with  them  as  little  political  connec- 
tion as  possible.     So  far  as  we  have  already  formed 


COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY         43 

engagements,  let  them  be  fulfilled  with  perfect  good 
faith.     Here  let  us  stop. 

At  this  time  (1796)  events  had  fully  justified 
the  wisdom  of  this  policy,  which  had  been 
adopted  by  Washington  against  the  opposition 
of  Jefferson  and  Madison  and  their  partizans, 
who,  because  of  their  sympathy  with  the 
French  democracy,  endeavored  to  identify  the 
interest  of  our  country  with  France  in  her 
wars  against  the  allied  powers  and  with  her 
unbridled  and  infuriated  democracy.  Condi- 
tions rapidly  developed  which  compelled  Wash- 
ington to  take  a  decided  step  forward  amid 
difficulties  and  perplexities  which  at  the  pres- 
ent day  it  is,  perhaps,  not  possible  to  realize 
adequately  and  much  less  to  measure;  the 
young  nation  gave  notice  to  the  world  that 
the  United  States  was  not  to  be  a  pawn  on 
the  chess-board  of  European  politics,  but 
would,  in  accordance  with  its  independent 
position  in  the  family  of  nations,  follow  its 
own  best  interests  in  accordance  with  its  prin- 
ciples of  international  equity  and  justice. 

The  conditions  referred  to  were  the  over- 
throw of  the  French  monarchy  and  the  ex- 
cesses of  the  French  Revolution,  and  the  com- 


44  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ing  to  this  country  of  a  Minister  from  the 
French  Directory,  Genet,  who,  upon  his  ar- 
rival at  Charleston,  appealed  to  the  public 
opinion  of  the  country,  enlisting  men,  equip- 
ping vessels,  and  commissioning  privateers,  as 
if  the  United  States  were  a  colony  or  a  de- 
pendency of  France.  The  crisis  he  provoked 
became  so  intense  that  it  created  a  distinct 
division  even  in  Washington's  Cabinet,  and  it 
was  found  imperatively  necessary  for  the 
President  to  suspend  the  functions  of  Genet 
and  demand  his  recall  and  to  issue  a  proclama- 
tion of  neutrality  embodying  the  highest  ideals 
of  international  text-writers,  far  in  advance 
of  that  doctrine  of  expediency  which  then  con- 
trolled the  practices  of  nations.  Hall,  one  of 
the  foremost  of  the  recent  authoritative  writ- 
ers on  international  law,  says  of  it: 

The  policy  of  the  United  States  in  1793  consti- 
tutes an  epoch  in  the  development  of  the  usages  of 
neutrality.  ...  It  represented  by  far  the  most 
advanced  existing  opinion  as  to  what  those  obliga- 
tions were.  ...  In  the  main,  however,  it  is 
identical  with  the  standard  of  conduct  which  is  now 
adopted  by  the  community  of  nations. 

The  proclamation  was  characterized  by  the 
opposition  as  unwise  and  unjust  in  placing 


COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY         45 

Great  Britain  upon  the  same  footing  and  giv- 
ing her  the  same  privileges  as  France.  It 
cannot  be  denied  that  its  immediate  effect  had 
disadvantages  for  us  in  restricting  our  com- 
merce with  European  nations,  including  Great 
Britain  as  well  as  France.  In  the  following 
year  (1794)  Congress  passed  our  first  Neu- 
trality Act,  which,  in  its  main  principles,  as 
revised  in  1818,  guides  the  practice  of  civilized 
nations.  This  advanced  position  of  neutral- 
ity, coupled  with  the  independent  attitude  of 
the  Washington  administration,  aggravated 
the  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  maritime 
powers,  none  of  whom  entertained  a  friendly 
disposition  toward  us,  and  our  efforts  to  ne- 
gotiate treaties  of  commerce  met  with  ob- 
struction and  delay.  Discouraging  as  this 
condition  was,  yet  the  very  causes  that  pro- 
duced it  subsequently  aided  us  in  negotiating 
more  favorable  treaties  with  the  several 
powers  than  would  otherwise  have  been  pos- 
sible. Trescot,  in  his  American  Diplomatic 
History,  says: 

Thus  the  treaty  with  England  was  yielded  to 
the  necessities  of  the  conditions  of  hostility  between 
England  and  France ;  the  treaty  with  Spain  was  the 
result  of  the  changed  attitude  of  that  power  toward 


46  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

England  on  the  one  side  and  France  on  the  other; 
and  the  treaty  with  France  depended  upon  the 
special  relations  which  France  at  the  moment  wished 
to  assume  for  her  own  purposes  toward  the  other 
powers  of  Europe. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  it  was 
estimated  that  one-sixth  of  the  wheat  and  flour 
exported  from  the  United  States,  and  one- 
fourth  of  dried  and  pickled  fish,  besides  other 
products,  found  their  best  markets  in  the  ports 
of  the  Mediterranean.  This  commerce  had 
grown  up  under  the  protection  of  the  British 
flag,  and  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  ships 
were  employed  in  it.  When  the  war  began, 
this  commerce  had  to  be  entirely  abandoned, 
and  the  commercial  loss  was  severely  felt.  In 
the  treaty  of  1778  with  France  it  was  pro- 
posed by  the  negotiators,  in  accordance  with 
the  instructions  given  to  them  by  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  that  France  should  take  the 
place  of  Great  Britain  as  the  protector  of  the 
American  vessels;  but  the  King  of  France 
would  go  no  further  than  to  agree  to  employ 
his  good  offices. 

The  Barbary  powers,  Morocco  and  the  re- 
gencies of  Tunis,  Tripoli  and  Algiers,  which 
for  generations  subsisted  by  depredations  on 


COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY         47 

commerce,  were  known  as  the  '' Piratical 
States,"  and  the  European  States,  in  order 
to  protect  their  commerce,  had  their  choice 
either  of  paying  a  certain  sum  per  head  to 
ransom  each  captive  or  of  buying  entire  free- 
dom for  their  commerce  by  expenditure  of 
large,  stipulated  annual  sums.  In  the  treaty 
renewed  by  France  in  1788  with  Algiers  she 
agreed  to  pay  $200,000  annually,  besides 
large  presents  periodically.  The  peace  of 
Spain  with  Algiers  is  said  to  have  cost  from 
three  to  five  million  dollars,  and  it  is  said  upon 
good  authority  that  England  was  paying  an 
annual  tribute  of  $280,000.  England  was  the 
only  power  sufficiently  strong  on  the  sea  to 
put  down  these  pirates;  but  she  found  it  to 
her  commercial  advantage  as  mistress  of  the 
sea  to  leave  them  in  existence  and  to  pay  a 
large  annual  tribute,  so  that  they  might  re- 
main a  scourge  to  the  commerce  of  other 
powers. 

Lord  Sheffield  said  in  1783,  in  his  Observa- 
tions on  the  Commerce  of  the  American  States: 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  American  States  will 
have  a  very  free  trade  in  the  Mediterranean.  It 
will  not  be  for  the  interests  of  any  of  the  great  mar- 
itime  powers   to   protect  them  from  the   Barbary 


48  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

States.  .  .  .  That  the  Barbary  States  were 
advantageous  to  the  maritime  powers  is  certain, 
.  .  .  The  armed  neutrality  would  be  as  hurtful 
to  the  great  maritime  powers  as  the  Barbary  States 
are  useful.  The  Americans  cannot  protect  them- 
selves from  the  latter;  they  cannot  pretend  to  a 
navy. 

It  may  be  incidentally  mentioned  that  these 
difficulties  with  Barbary  gave  us  a  navy.  I 
need  not  here  detail  the  account  of  our  rela- 
tions with  the  Barbary  powers,  which  forms 
a  well-known  and  glorious  chapter  in  our  dip- 
lomatic history. 

When  the  new  government  under  the  Con- 
stitution was  formed,  Jefferson,  as  Secretary 
of  State,  declared  the  determination  of  the 
tJnited  States  ''to  prefer  war  in  all  cases  to 
tribute  under  any  form."  But  a  navy  was 
wanting  to  make  this  declaration  effective.  By 
December,  1793,  the  number  of  American  ves- 
sels captured  by  Algerian  corsairs  was  thir- 
teen, and  the  number  of  captives  was  one  hun- 
dred and  nineteen.  The  United  States,  urged 
on  by  the  cry  of  the  captives,  whom  it  was  then 
unable  to  rescue  by  force,  accepted  the  condi- 
tions of  the  Dey,  and  by  the  expenditure  of 
nearly   eight    hundred   thousand    dollars    ob- 


COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY         49 

tained  the  release  of  its  citizens  and  purchased 
a  peace,  which  was  signed  on  September  5, 
1795.  A  treaty  with  Tripoli  followed  in  No- 
vember, 1796,  and  one  with  Tunis  in  August, 
1797.  In  our  treaty  with  Tripoli,  concluded 
in  the  administration  of  Washington,  we  find 
a  significant  declaration,  doubtless  inserted  to 
overcome  the  religious  fanaticism  of  the  Dey, 
and  for  the  purpose  of  emphasizing  the  fact 
that  our  form  of  government  was  a  civil  com- 
monwealth as  distinguished  from  a  monarchy 
where  its  church  and  state  are  united,  or 
where  the  state  is  under  the  domination  of  an 
ecclesiastical  hierarchy.  The  declaration  re- 
ferred to  is  in  Article  IX  of  the  treaty  and 
reads  as  follows: 

As  the  Government  of  the  United  States  of 
America  is  not  in  any  sense  founded  on  the 
Christian  religion,  as  it  has  in  itself  no  character  of 
enmity  against  the  laws,  religion,  or  tranquillity  of 
Mussulmans,  .  .  .  it  is  declared  by  the  parties 
that  no  pretext  arising  from  religious  opinions  shall 
ever  produce  an  interruption  of  the  harmony  exist- 
ing between  the  two  countries. 

Perhaps  the  idea  was  also  to  emphasize  the 
strictly  and  exclusively  commercial  purpose 
intended  to  be  served  by  the  treaty.    With 


50  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  omission  of  tlie  introductory  phrase  a  sim- 
ilar declaration  was  inserted  in  the  treaty 
with  Tripoli  of  1805  and  in  the  treaties  with 
Algiers  of  1815  and  1816. 

During  the  seven  years  following  the  sec- 
ond peace  with  Tripoli  the  foreign  relations 
of  the  United  States  were  comparatively  un- 
eventful, but  the  feeling  of  hostility  broke  out 
again  in  1812  when  it  became  known  that  war 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
was  then  imminent.  An  act  was  passed  by 
Congress  on  March  3,  1815,  ''for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  commerce  of  the  United  States 
against  the  Algerine  cruisers."  Two  squad- 
rons were  ordered  to  the  Mediterranean  un- 
der Bainbridge  and  Decatur,  and  immediately 
upon  their  arrival  on  the  scene  they  forced 
the  Dey  to  sign  a  treaty  by  which  it  was  de- 
clared that  no  tribute  of  any  form  or 
under  any  pretext  should  ever  be  required 
from  the  United  States.  Tripoli  and  Tunis 
were  also  admonished,  and  thereby,  through 
the  intrepid  course  of  our  navy,  the  Barbary 
pirates,  after  centuries  of  depredations  on  life 
and  property,  were  taught  to  respect  human 
rights,  and  the  Mediterranean  was  made  free 
to  the  commerce  of  the  world. 


COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY         51 

I  refer  to  but  few  of  the  leading  incidents  in 
our  diplomacy   affecting  the   rights   of  com- 
merce, and  I  have  purposely  confined  this  re- 
view chiefly  to  such  questions  as  advanced  the 
freedom  of  commerce  not  exclusively  for  our 
country  but  for  all  nations.     The  efforts  of 
the  United  States  to  secure  for  commerce  the 
free  navigation  of  rivers  and  seas  began  early 
in  its  history  and  has  been  persistently  and 
successfully  pushed  forward  upon  the  broad 
principles  of  international  justice  and  equality 
among  nations;  in  other  words,  our  policy  on 
land  and  sea  has  consistently  been  that  of  "the 
open  door."    Besides  maintaining  the   free- 
dom of  the  seas,  the  United  States  from  the 
beginning  contended  for  the  free  navigation 
of  the  natural  channels  that  lead  to  the  seas. 
In  the  advocacy  of  this  international  principle 
for  the  freedom  of  commerce,  it  was  mainly 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  abolition, 
in  1857,  of  the  dues  levied  by  Denmark  on  ves- 
sels and  cargoes  passing  from  the  North  Sea 
into  the  Baltic.     Mr.   Clay,  as  Secretary  of 
State,  in  his  protest  against  these  dues  and 
exactions  had  declared  that  ''if  a  canal  to  unite 
the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  oceans  should  ever  be 
constructed,  the  benefits  of  it  ought  not  to  be 


52  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

exclusively  appropriated  to  any  one  nation, 
but  should  be  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  globe 
upon  the  payment  of  a  just  compensation  or 
reasonable  tolls."  ^ 

This  principle  is  embodied  in  the  Hay- 
Pauncefote  Treaty  for  the  neutralization  of 
the  Panama  Canal.  The  free  navigation  of 
the  St.  Lawrence  was  secured  for  a  limited 
period  by  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  of  1854,  and 
in  perpetuity  by  the  Treaty  of  Washington  in 
1871.  In  accordance  with  the  same  principles 
the  United  States  endeavored  to  secure  the 
free  navigation  of  the  Amazon,  which  in  1866 
was  voluntarily  granted  to  all  nations  by  the 
Emperor  of  Brazil.  By  a  treaty  with  Bo- 
livia in  1858  the  Amazon  and  La  Plata,  with 
their  tributaries,  were  declared  to  be,  ''in  ac- 
cordance with  fixed  principles  of  international 
law,  .  .  .  channels  open  by  nature  for  the 
commerce  of  all  nations." 

In  1821  the  Emperor  Alexander  of  Russia 
issued  a  ukase  prohibiting  foreign  vessels 
from  approaching,  within  less  than  one  hun- 
dred Italian  miles,  the  northwestern  coast  of 
America,  from  Bering's  Strait  to  the  fifty- 
first  degree  of  north  latitude.     The  Russian 

1  John  Bassett  Moore's  "American  Diplomacy,"  pp.  81-82. 


COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY         53 

minister  in  Washington,  in  his  note  to  our 
Government,  made  the  additional  claim  of 
Eussia's  right  of  sovereignty  over  the  whole 
northwestern  part  of  the  continent  of  Amer- 
ica above  that  line.  These  negotiations  re- 
garding Russia's  extraordinary  claims  aroused 
a  great  deal  of  bitterness  and  hostility 
throughout  the  country,  until  they  were  finally 
adjusted  by  the  Convention  of  1824.  Madison, 
in  writing  to  President  Monroe  in  regard  to 
the  conclusion  of  this  treaty,  said: 

The  convention  with  Russia  is  a  propitious  event 
in  substituting  amicable  adjustment  for  the  risks  of 
hostile  collision.  But  I  give  the  Emperor  little 
credit  for  his  consent  to  the  principle  of  mare 
Uberum  in  the  North  Pacific. 

These  negotiations  are  of  the  highest  inter- 
est to  us  historically  from  another  point  of 
view,  as  in  them  expression  was  given  to  the 
main  principles  which  soon  came  to  be  known 
as  the  Monroe  Doctrine.  A  new  Russian 
Minister,  Baron  de  Tuyl,  was  sent  over  in  the 
autumn  of  1822.  Mr.  Adams  wrote  in  his 
diary,  ''I  find  proof  enough  to  put  down  the 
Russian  Government,  but  how  shall  we  answer 
the   Russian   cannon?"    He   declares   that   a 


54  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

few  days  later  the  Russian  Minister  held  a 
conversation  with  him  and  desired  to  Imow 
what  instructions  he  had  sent  to  Mr.  Middle- 
ton,  our  Minister  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  Mr. 
Adams  says: 

I  told  him  specially  that  we  should  contest  the 
right  of  Russia  to  any  territorial  establishment  on 
this  continent :  and  that  we  should  assume  distinctly 
the  principle  that  the  American  continents  are  no 
longer  subjects  for  any  new  European  colonial  estab- 
lishments. 

When  maritime  commerce  was  identified 
with  piracy,  and  subsequently  with  disregard 
of  neutral  rights,  it  was  continually  a  source 
of  irritation  and  aggravated  the  militant  spirit 
between  nations;  but  with  the  growth  of  the 
modern  industrial  development  and  the  ex- 
tension of  foreign  trade,  nations  no  longer  find 
it  profitable  to  be  hostile  to  one  another  be- 
cause of  their  prosperity.  The  commercial 
spirit,  while  it  is  competitive,  is  not  a  militant 
spirit,  for  in  its  final  analysis  foreign  com- 
merce rests  upon  mutuality,  and  a  wealthy  and 
prosperous  nation  is  a  much  better  customer 
than  a  poor  nation.  The  commercial  spirit, 
therefore,  from  enlightened  self-interest,  fav- 


COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY         55 

ors  the  promotion  of  prosperity  in  other  na- 
tions. The  only  apparent  exception  to  this 
modern  spirit  of  commerce  is  to  be  found  in 
relation  to  trade  with  Oriental  nations,  where 
there  is  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  great 
powers  to  establish  spheres  of  influence  and  to 
force  special  concessions  and  exclusive  privi- 
leges, to  the  detriment  of  competing  nations. 
America  again  has  come  to  the  forefront  by 
insisting  upon  ''the  open  door"  in  China  and 
in  other  Oriental  lands,  in  the  furtherance  of 
which  it  has  consistently  refrained  from  and 
protested  against  the  policy  of  some  of  the 
great  powers  who  seek  to  advance  their  po- 
litical influence  in  order  to  obtain  exclusive 
rights  for  their  commerce,  or  who  seek  to  es- 
tablish exclusive  commercial  rights  to  promote 
their  political  influence.  The  American  pol- 
icy, which  was  so  felicitously  characterized 
by  Secretary  Hay  as  that  of  the  "Monroe 
Doctrine  and  the  Golden  Rule,"  is  an  interna- 
tional policy  of  the  highest  equity  and  justice, 
and  it  should  ever  be  our  vigilant  care  that 
these  two  parallel  purposes  of  our  national 
policy  in  foreign  affairs  should  not  be  so  con- 
strued as  to  become  incompatible  in  guarding 
our  continental  interests  and  our  peaceful  re- 


56  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

lations  with  the  nations  of  the  world.  This 
will  be  the  responsible  task  of  American  states- 
manship, requiring  no  less  the  highest  wisdom 
than  the  calmness  of  patriotic  restraint  to 
guide  our  destinies  aright  in  times  of  stress. 
It  is  largely  due  to  the  vast  extension  of 
commercial  intercourse  between  nations  in  our 
times,  which  rests  upon  reciprocity,  that  the 
standard  of  public  morals  has  been  lifted  from 
the  lower  sphere  of  international  expediency 
to  the  higher  sphere  of  morality  and  law.  As 
examples  of  this  may  be  cited  the  abolition  of 
the  slave-trade  and  the  more  recent  efforts, 
on  the  part  of  China  in  concert  with  the  lead- 
ing powers,  to  prohibit  the  cultivation  and 
trade  in  opium  except  for  legitimate  medical 
use.  The  standard  of  international  morality 
still  continues  to  lag  far  behind  the  standard 
of  commercial  fair  dealing  within  nations ;  the 
evidences  of  this  are  no  more  glaringly  exhib- 
ited than  in  the  exceptions  in  the  laws  of  neu- 
trality, which  rest  not  on  principle  but  on 
legal  casuistry.  As  the  law  now  stands,  it  is 
entirely  lawful  for  the  subjects  of  neutrals  to 
supply  belligerents  with  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion, as  well  as,  by  public  subscription  or 
otherwise,  to  raise  loans  to  aid  belligerents; 


COMMERCIAL  DIPLOMACY         57 

yet  the  fact  that  such  loans  can  be  legally  con- 
tracted makes  war  possible  when  otherwise 
either  or  both  belligerents  would  be  prevented 
by  economic  necessities  from  beginning  a  war, 
or,  when  begun,  from  prolonging  it.  The 
Eusso-Japanese  War  would  certainly  have 
come  to  an  earlier  end  if  neither  belligerent 
could  have  borrowed  money  from  the  subjects 
of  neutrals.  It  requires  no  argument  to  prove 
that  such  acts  are  against  the  fundamental 
principles  of  neutrality;  and  when  the  stand- 
ards of  international  morality  advance  a  sin- 
gle step  further  such  contraband  commerce 
and  loans  will  no  longer  be  considered  lawful. 
No  more  practical  work  can  be  undertaken  in 
the  promotion  of  peace  than  to  hasten  the  day 
when  the  laws  of  neutrality  shall  be  made  to 
square  with  the  principles  of  impartiality,  jus- 
tice, and  morality. 


IV 


VENEZUELA  AND  THE  MONROE  DOC- 
TRINE 


IV 

VENEZUELA  AND  THE  MONROE  DOC- 
TRINE 

THE  Declaration  of  Independence,  Wash- 
ington's Farewell  Address,  and  the  Mes- 
sage of  President  Monroe  containing  the 
Doctrine  called  after  his  name,  were  three  in- 
struments in  the  history  of  these  United 
States,  neither  of  them  a  charter,  or  a  consti- 
tution, or  even  laws,  that  yet  have  had  a  con- 
trolling influence  upon  the  policy  and  destiny 
of  the  nation  far  beyond  all  public  acts  com- 
bined, with  the  single  exception  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.  The  patriotism  and  statesman- 
ship of  the  fathers  of  the  Republic  formulated 
these  several  documents  for  the  guidance  and 
preservation  of  our  institutions  for  all  time  to 
come. 

Two  cardinal  principles  have  always  con- 
trolled the  relations  of  the  United  States  with 
the  governments  of  the  world — the  neutrality 
policy  laid  down  by  Washington,  and  the  Mon- 

61 


62  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

roe  Doctrine  to  guard  the  integrity  and  wel- 
fare of  institutions  on  this  continent.  When 
President  Monroe  submitted  the  papers  which 
called  forth  the  Message  to  the  author  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  for  his  advice, 
Jefferson  answered; 

The  question  presented  by  the  letters  you  have 
sent  me  is  the  most  momentous  which  has  ever  been 
offered  to  my  contemplation  since  that  of  Independ- 
ence. That  made  us  a  nation ;  this  sets  our  compass 
and  points  the  course  which  we  are  to  steer  through 
the  ocean  of  time  opening  on  us. 

The  question  so  momentous,  which  Jeffer- 
son referred  to,  and  which  was  also  submitted 
by  Monroe  for  the  opinion  of  Madison,  briefly 
summarized,  grew  out  of  the  following  circum- 
stances : 

In  1815  a  treaty  was  entered  into  between 
the  Emperors  of  Russia  and  Austria  and  the 
King  of  Prussia,  not  through  the  intermedia- 
tion of  ministers,  but  by  themselves  acting  as 
absolute  sovereigns.  The  objects  of  the 
league  thus  formed — called  the  ''Holy  Alli- 
ance," thus  bearing  a  benevolent  and  sacred 
aspect — were  primarily  to  rehabilitate  autoc- 
racy with  jure  divino,  and  secondarily  to  pre- 
vent the  rise  of  and  to  overthrow  free  govern- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  63 

ment  and  dominate  the  world.  Congresses 
were  held  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Troppau,  and 
Laybach,  for  concentrating  and  extending  the 
powers  of  the  allies  and  putting  their  ob- 
jects into  operation.  Liberal  movements  were 
forcibly  suppressed  in  Piedinont  and  Naples 
in  1820,  and  the  system  of  armed  intervention 
was  adopted  in  the  affairs  of  other  states,  in 
order  to  suppress  free  institutions  and  to 
strengthen  monarchical  government,  without 
regard  to  the  immediate  interests  of  the  states 
composing  the  Alliance.  In  October,  1822,  the 
allied  sovereigns  assembled  at  Verona  and 
formulated  measures  for  the  suppression  of 
the  revolution  in  Spain.  In  April,  1823, 
France  undertook  to  apply  the  principles  of 
the  allies  by  invading  Spain  for  the  purpose 
of  overthrowing  the  constitution  of  the  Cortes 
and  restoring  absolute  monarchy  under  Ferdi- 
nand VII.  The  British  government  protested 
against  this  interference,  disclaiming  for 
itself,  and  denying  to  other  powers,  the  right 
of  requiring  any  change  in  the  internal  insti- 
tutions of  an  independent  state. 

The  allied  powers,  having  gone  forward  in 
their  plan  to  suppress  popular  government, 
purposed    to    transfer    their    intervention    to 


64  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

our  hemisphere,  a  result  of  the  relations 
of  France  and  Spain  and  their  attitude 
toward  the  South  American  colonies  then 
at  the  approaching  end  of  their  successful 
struggle  for  independence.  Canning,  the  Brit- 
ish Prime  Mirfister,  in  August,  1823,  had 
a  conference  with  our  Minister,  Rush,  with 
the  view  of  sounding  our  government  as  to 
what  action  it  would  take  against  such  threat- 
ened intervention  by  France,  laying  stress  on 
the  commercial  interests  of  Great  Britain  and 
the  large  portion  of  maritime  power  which  his 
government  and  ours  shared  between  them. 
This  conference  was  followed  by  a  note  ad- 
dressed by  Canning  to  Rush,  wherein  he  writes : 

Is  not  the  moment  come  when  our  governments 
might  understand  each  other  as  to  the  Spanish- 
American  colonies?  And  if  we  can  arrive  at  such 
an  understanding,  would  it  not  be  expedient  for 
ourselves,  and  beneficial  to  all  the  world,  that  the 
principles  of  it  should  be  clearly  settled  and  plainly 
avowed? 

And  then  he  sets  forth  Great  Britain's  atti- 
tude in  detail:  that  he  regards  the  recovery 
of  the  colonies  of  Spain  as  hopeless;  that 
she  does  not  aim  at  the  possession  of  any  por- 
tion herself,  and  could  not  view  their  trans- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  65 

fer  to  any  other  power  with  indifference.    He 
continues : 

If  there  be  any  European  power  which  cher- 
ishes other  projects,  which  looks  to  a  forcible  enter- 
prise for  reducing  the  colonies  to  subjugation,  on 
the  behalf  or  in  the  name  of  Spain,  or  which  medi- 
tates the  acquisition  of  any  part  of  them  to  itself, 
by  cession  or  by  conquest,  such  a  declaration  on  the 
part  of  your  government  and  ours  would  be  at  once 
the  most  effectual  and  the  least  offensive  mode  of 
our  intimating  ooir  joint  disapprobation  of  such 
projects.  .  .  .  Nothing  could  be  more  gratifying  to 
me  than  to  join  with  you  in  such  a  work,  and  I  am 
persuaded  there  has  seldom,  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  occurred  an  opportunity  where  so  small  an 
effort  of  two  friendly  governments  might  produce 
so  unequivocal  a  good  and  prevent  such  extensive 
calamities. 

Our  government,  which  before  this  time  had 
formally  acknowledged  the  independence  of 
the  Spanish-American  states,  received  this 
overture  of  the  British  Prime  Minister  with 
all  the  deliberation  that  the  importance  of  this 
step  demanded.  President  Monroe  did  not 
adopt  the  proposal  for  a  joint  declaration. 
He  maintained  that  the  public  policy  of  the 
United  States,  which  held  it  aloof  from  inter- 
vention in  the  affairs   of  European  powers, 


66  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

necessarily  implied  European  non-inten^en- 
tion  in  the  affairs  of  this  hemisphere,  and 
he  embodied  this  principle  in  his  Message  of 
December  2,  1823.  After  declaring  that  it 
was  our  policy  not  to  interfere  with  the  inter- 
nal concerns  of  European  powers,  and  refer- 
ring to  the  contemplated  interference  by  the 
"Holy  Alliance,"  he  said,  in  language  which 
has  gone  into  history  as  the  "Monroe  Doc- 
trine," of  our  continental  policy: 

With  the  movements  in  this  hemisphere  we  are, 
of  necessity,  more  immediately  connected,  and  by 
causes  which  must  be  obvious  to  all  enlightened  and 
impartial  observers.  .  .  .  We  owe  it,  therefore,  to 
candor,  and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  those  [European] 
powers,  to  declare  that  we  should  consider  any  at- 
tempt on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any 
portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our 
peace  and  safety.  .  .  .  With  the  existing  colonies  or 
dependencies  of  any  European  power  we  have  not 
interfered  and  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the 
governments  who  have  declared  their  independ- 
ence and  maintained  it,  and  whose  independence  we 
have,  on  great  consideration  and  on  just  principles, 
acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  any  interposition 
for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling 
in  any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  Euro- 
pean power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  manifes- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  67 

tation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  towards  the 
United  States.  ...  It  is  equally  impossible,  there- 
fore, that  we  should  behold  such  interposition,  in 
any  form,  with  indifference. 

This  policy,  far  from  being  arbitrary,  em- 
bodies the  golden  rule  of  international  rela- 
tions, as  it  concedes  to  the  nations  of  the  other 
continents  the  rights  we  demand  on  the  Amer- 
ican continent.  Instead  of  producing  war,  it 
was  a  harbinger  of  peace ;  it  not  only  hastened 
the  independence  of  the  struggling  colonies  on 
this  hemisphere,  but  it  also  relieved  Europe 
from  the  terrors  of  absolutism  of  the  ''Holy 
Allies."  In  England  the  Message  was  hailed 
with  joy  and  enthusiasm;  her  statesmen  ex- 
tolled it  in  unmeasured  terms.  Brougham  re- 
ferred to  it  as  an  event  ''than  which  none  has 
ever  dispersed  greater  joy,  exultation,  and 
gratitude  over  all  the  freedom  of  Europe." 
Canning,  in  his  justifiable  pride  for  his  share 
in  the  circumstances  which  called  forth  the 
Message,  said:  "I  called  the  New  World  into 
existence  to  redress  the  balance  of  the  Old." 

The  Doctrine  so  formulated  by  Monroe, 
expounded  by  Adams,  and  counseled  by  Jef- 
ferson and  Madison,  said  Secretary  Freling- 
huysen  in  his  instructions  to  Lowell  (May  8, 


68  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

1882),  "has  since  remained  a  cardinal  prin- 
ciple of  our  continental  policy.  ...  It  is  not 
to  be  anticipated  that  Great  Britain  will  con- 
trovert an  international  doctrine  which  she 
suggested  to  the  United  States  when  looking 
to  her  own  interests,  and  which,  when  adopted 
by  this  Republic,  she  highly  approved." 
For  more  than  seventy  years  the  executive 
branch  of  the  government  has  on  repeated 
occasions  given  to  this  Doctrine  its  approval 
and  has  uniformly  acted  upon  it;  our  diplo- 
macy has  been  guided  by  it,  and  our  secreta- 
ries of  state  have  time  and  again  made  it  the 
subject  of  diplomatic  representation.  The 
details  of  these  representations  in  more  recent 
years  are  to  be  found  in  the  instructions  and 
communications  of  Secretaries  Fish,  Freling- 
huysen,  Evarts,  Blaine,  and  Bayard,  and  in 
Olney's  resume  of  the  negotiations  and  in- 
structions, communicated  to  Lord  Salisbury, 
attached  to  the  President's  Message.  Be- 
sides being  the  controlling  factor  in  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  South  American  states,  and  in 
protecting  them  from  European  ambition  or 
intervention,  the  Monroe  Doctrine  operated  to 
prevent  the  establishment  of  a  European  dy- 
nasty in  Mexico  at  the  close  of  our  civil  war. 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  69 

On  more  than  one  occasion  it  has  been  applied 
to  the  case  of  Cuba,  and  especially  by  Presi- 
dent Grant  in  1870,  in  his  Message  of  that 
year,  wherein  he  said  that  existing  dependen- 
cies were  no  longer  regarded  as  subject  to 
transfer  by  one  European  power  to  another; 
and  that  when  existing  relations  of  colonies 
cease,  they  are  to  become  independent  powers. 
It  was  applied  to  dangers  threatening  Yuca- 
tan, and  its  principles  were  embodied  in  the 
treaty  of  the  United  States  with  Great  Britain 
respecting  the  settlement  of  affairs  in  Central 
America.  Secretary  Fish,  in  his  report  ac- 
companying the  President's  Message,  wrote: 

The  United  States  stand  solemnly  committed  by 
repeated  declarations  and  repeated  acts  to  this 
Doctrine,  and  its  application  to  the  affairs  of  this 
continent.  ...  It  does  not  contemplate  forcible  in- 
tervention in  any  legitimate  contest;  but  it  protests 
against  permitting  such  a  contest  to  result  in  the 
increase  of  European  power  or  influence.  .  .  .  This 
policy  is  not  a  policy  of  aggression;  but  it  opposes 
the  creation  of  European  dominion  on  American 
soil,  or  its  transfer  to  other  European  powers,  and 
it  looks  hopefully  to  the  time  when,  by  voluntary 
departure  of  European  governments  from  this  con- 
tinent and  the  adjacent  islands,  America  shall  be 
wholly  American. 


70  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

We  now  take  up  the  question  of  the  Ven- 
ezuelan boundary  dispute  between  that  Re- 
public and  Great  Britain,  the  repeated  tender 
of  our  good  offices  to  Great  Britain  in  the  in- 
terest of  peace  and  harmony,  and  the  urgent 
representations  of  our  solicitude,  while  dis- 
tinctly withholding  any  expression  of  opinion 
as  to  the  real  merits  of  the  controversy,  so  as 
not  to  prejudge  or  prejudice  the  rights  of 
either  party. 

The  dispute  existed  at  least  as  early  as 
1814,  when  Great  Britain,  by  treaty  with  the 
Netherlands,  acquired  the  provinces  known  as 
Essequibo,  Demerara,  and  Berbice.  From 
that  time  to  the  present  day  the  boundary  be- 
tween this  territory — now  known  as  British 
Guiana — and  Venezuela  has  continued  to  be  a 
source  of  contention.  The  limit  contended  for 
by  Venezuela  has  consistently  been  the  Esse- 
quibo, excepting  when  she  offered  concessions 
in  order  to  arrive  at  an  amicable  settlement 
by  treaty  and  arbitration.  Great  Britain's 
claim  has  varied  considerably,  growing  in  ex- 
tent from  stage  to  stage  in  the  negotiations. 
In  1840  an  English  engineer,  Sir  Robert 
Schomburgk,  who  five  years  before  this  date 
had  explored  the  Orinoco  for  the  Royal  Geo- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  71 

graphical  Society,  was  commissioned  by  the 
British  government  to  survey  and  delimit  pro- 
visionally the  boundaries  of  British  Guiana; 
it  being  the  intention  of  the  Foreign  Secre- 
tary, Lord  Palmerston — as  appears  by  a  letter 
of  instructions  written  in  1840  by  the  Under- 
Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  Vis- 
count Leveson  (afterward  Earl  Granville) — 
to  submit  the  maps  of  the  boundaries  thus  de- 
limited to  Venezuela  and  the  other  govern- 
ments interested  for  their  consideration  and 
objections.  The  boundary  thus  traced  and 
marked  is  known  as  the  "Schomburgk  line.'* 
Whether  the  maps  were  or  were  not  sub- 
mitted, it  is  quite  clear  that  Venezuela 
promptly  remonstrated,  so  that  the  monu- 
ments of  the  line  set  up  by  Schomburgk  were 
removed  by  order  of  Lord  Aberdeen. 

For  the  quarter  of  the  century  following 
1848,  Venezuela  was  convulsed  by  revolutions, 
so  that  the  boundary  question  received  little 
or  no  consideration.  Since  that  time,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  negotiations,  the  boundary  of 
British  Guiana  has  been  deporting  itself  as  if 
galvanized  by  Horace  Greeley's  advice  to  "go 
West."  While  negotiations  were  pending, 
new  appropriations  were  being  made  by  Great 


72  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

Britain  which  amounted  to  33,000  square 
miles  in  the  years  from  1885  to  1887;  so  that 
Venezuela,  finding  this  condition  unbearable, 
in  the  latter  year  suspended  diplomatic  rela- 
tions, protesting  ''against  the  acts  of  spolia- 
tion committed  to  her  detriment  by  the  gov- 
ernment of  Great  Britain."  Diplomatic  rela- 
tions have  not  since  been  restored,  though  new 
negotiations  begun  in  1890  and  in  1893  met 
with  the  same  fate  as  before;  Great  Britain 
refusing  to  negotiate  or  arbitrate,  except  as 
to  territory  west  of  an  arbitrary  line  drawn 
by  herself.  To  all  these  negotiations,  as  de- 
tailed with  explicitness  by  Secretary  Olney, 
''the  United  States  has  not  been,  and  indeed, 
in  view  of  its  traditional  policy,  could  not  be, 
indifferent."  In  December,  1886,  Secretary 
Bayard,  in  order  to  avert  the  impending  rup- 
ture between  Venezuela  and  Great  Britain,  of- 
fered to  the  latter,  through  Minister  Phelps, 
the  cooperation  of  our  government  to  arbi- 
trate the  differences,  and  said : 

Her  Majesty's  government  will  readily  under- 
stand that  this  attitude  of  friendly  neutrality  .  .  . 
is  entirely  consistent  and  compatible  with  the  sense 
of  responsibility  that  rests  upon  the  United  States 
in  relation  to  South  American  republics.     The  doc- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  73 

trines  we  announced  two  generations  ago,  at  the 
instance  and  with  the  cordial  support  and  approval 
of  the  British  government,  have  lost  none  of  their 
force  or  importance  in  the  progress  of  time,  and  the 
governments  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
are  equally  interested  in  conserving  a  status  the 
wisdom  of  which  has  been  demonstrated  by  the  ex- 
perience of  more  than  half  a  century. 

The  United  States,  in  respect  to  the  Ven- 
ezuelan boundary  dispute,  is  not  concerned 
whether  British  Guiana  be  larger  by  an  area 
estimated  at  109,000  square  miles,  nor 
whether  the  territorial  dominions  of  the  Re- 
public of  Venezuela  be  less  to  that  extent.  In 
the  language  of  Monroe's  Message,  ''with  the 
existing  colonies  or  depen^dencies  of  any  Eu- 
ropean power  we  have  not  interfered  and  shall 
not  interfere." 

It  is  held  by  Venezuela  that  Great  Britain's 
usurpation  entails  most  serious  consequences, 
the  ''exclusive  dominion  over  the  Orinoco,  the 
great  artery  on  the  north  of  the  continent, 
the  Mississippi  River  of  South  America,"  and 
that  this  control  perpetuates  measures  of 
usurpation  that  will  be  the  cause  of  perma- 
nent danger  to  the  industry  and  commerce  of 
Venezuela  and  neighboring  states,  which  may, 


74  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

as  to  certain  ''American  countries,  render  il- 
lusory their  political  existence  as  free  and  in- 
dependent states."  Even  the  possibility  of 
such  consequences  would  not  justify  our  gov- 
ernment in  intervening  for  the  purpose  of 
depriving  either  country  of  a  foot  of  territory 
that  it  is  by  right — as  distinguished  from 
might — entitled  to  hold.  But,  under  the  most 
favorable  construction  that  can  be  put  upon 
this  controversy,  it  is  apparent  that  the  true 
boundary  line  between  Great  Britain  and  Ven- 
ezuela is  involved  in  an  uncertainty,  which 
fact  is  made  the  more  apparent  by  the  ever 
widening  of  the  British  boundary,  during  the 
past  fifty  years,  from  the  Essequibo  line  until 
it  includes  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco.  Aside 
from  the  real  facts  of  the  controversy.  Lord 
Salisbury's  refusal  to  avail  himself  of  our 
friendly  offices,  and  to  submit  the  question  to 
impartial  arbitration,  leads  to  the  conclusion 
that  he  had  not  sufficient  faith  in  the  justice 
of  his  claim.  This  he  does  not  assert  or  ad- 
mit; he  resorts  to  a  line  of  argument  which  is 
not  only  undiplomatic,  but  untenable,  and 
changes  the  controversy  from  one  affecting 
the  boundary  of  a  comparatively  insignificant 
British  colony  to  an  attack  upon  our  conti- 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  75 

nental  policy.  It  is  this  inadmissible  conten- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  British  Prime  Minis- 
ter, and  not  the  President's  Message,  which 
has  the  dangerous  tendency  to  change  the 
issue  from  one  of  fact  and  diplomacy  to  one 
affecting  the  cardinal  principle  of  our  na- 
tional policy  for  the  security  of  our  institu- 
tions and  our  relations  to  the  nations  on  this 
continent.  Mr.  Schurz,  in  his  admirable  ad- 
dress before  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, referring  to  this  regrettable  phase  of 
the  controversy,  said: 

Now  questions  of  fact,  of  law,  of  interest,  of 
substantial  right  and  justice,  it  may  sometimes  be 
very  diiScult  to  decide;  but  there  are  rules  of  evi- 
dence, rules  of  legal  construction,  and  rules  of 
equity,  to  help  us  to  a  solution.  But  a  question  of 
honor  usually  withdraws  from  all  those  aids,  be- 
cause it  is  a  matter  of  sentiment. 

While  the  closing  passages  of  the  President's 
Message  show  some  evidences  of  irritation 
because  of  this  offensive  attitude  on  the  part 
of  Lord  Salisbury  (assumed  doubtless  to  jus- 
tify his  refusal  to  submit  the  boundary  dis- 
pute to  arbitration),  the  President  has  wisely 
provided  for  keeping  the  controversy  within 
the  realm  of  fact  and  evidence  by  suggesting 


76  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  appointment  of  a  Commission  to  make  an 
inquiry  to  that  end,  to  "be  conducted  care- 
fully and  judicially;  and  due  weight  should  be 
given  to  all  available  evidence,  records,  and 
facts  in  support  of  the  claims  of  both  par- 
ties." 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  possession  by 
Great  Britain  of  the  disputed  territory  has 
the  possibility,  even  remotely,  of  any  such 
consequences  as  is  claimed  by  Venezuela ;  but 
I  do  believe  that  Lord  Salisbury's  refusal 
to  arbitrate  charges  Great  Britain  with 
weighty  responsibilities  that  are  not  meas- 
ured by  their  effect  upon  her  possessions  on 
this  continent.  It  entails  upon  her  the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  abrogation  of  the  humane 
principles  of  arbitration  as  the  best  and  most 
civilized  method  for  the  settlement  of  interna- 
tional disputes,  which  have  been  so  courte- 
ously and  urgently  pressed  upon  her  in  this 
matter  by  our  government,  by  every  Secretary 
of  State  since  1876,  and  by  our  Presidents  in 
their  messages  to  Congress.  Reference  to 
this  request  for  arbitration,  with  a  brief  state- 
ment of  our  traditional  policy,  was  again 
made  by  President  Cleveland  in  his  last  an- 
nual message  at  the  opening  of  the  present 


THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  77 

Congress.     Great    Britain    and    the    United 
States  have  been  foremost  among  the  nations 
of  the  world  in  advocating  this  method  of  set- 
tling   international    controversies,    and   their 
example  has  been  the  most  encouraging  and 
potent   factor   for  promoting  good  will   and 
''peace  with  honor"  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth.     During    the    present    century    about 
eighty  international  controversies  have  been 
adjusted  by  this  method,  and  a  large  propor- 
tion of  them  have  affected  boundaries.    Our 
country  has  settled  more  than  forty  of  these 
difficulties  in  this  wise,  and  of  these  some  of 
the   most  important   have   been   with   Great 
Britain    touching    boundaries.    The    Monroe 
Doctrine  has  ever  been  a  preserver  of  peace, 
and  every  assertion  of  it  has  had  the  effect  of 
averting  the  calamities  of  war.    Our  Presi- 
dents, from  Monroe  to  Cleveland,  in  order  to 
maintain  our  traditional  policy,  to  prevent, 
on  the  part  of  European  governments,  any 
misconception  of  its  meaning  and  application, 
and  to  avoid  a  condition  which  threatened  to 
arouse  popular   excitement  to   a  point   that 
might  drive  the  nation  into  war,  have  reiter- 
ated our  policy  in  accordance  not  only  with 
the  right,  but  with  the  duty,  devolving  upon 


78  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  chief  Executive.  Following  in  this  regard 
the  precedent  set  by  Monroe — who  prefaced 
his  enunciation  of  the  Doctrine  with  the 
words,  "We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor  and 
to  the  amicable  relations  existing  between  the 
United  States  and  those  powers"— Mr.  Cleve- 
land has  responded  to  this  grave  duty  in  order 
to  avert  a  hostile  collision  between  the  two 
great  English-speaking  peoples,  who  should 
ever  remain  '^  strenuous  and  worthy  rivals  in 
all  the  arts  of  peace." 


V 

GEOWTH  OF  AMERICAN  PRESTIGE 


V 

GROWTH  OF  AMERICAN  PRESTIGE 

IT  is  a  strange  historical  coincidence  that 
the  two  great  English-speaking  nations 
came  out  as  it  were  from  their  isolation  and 
developed  into  great  world  powers  following, 
if  not  growing  out  of,  a  war  with  the  same  na- 
tion. The  destruction  of  the  Spanish  Armada 
in  1588  gave  to  England  international  inde- 
pendence, and  made  her  mistress  of  the  sea; 
while  our  war  with  Spain,  followed  by  the 
peaceful  and  triumphal  procession  of  our  war- 
ships around  the  globe,  raised  the  United 
States  to  a  great  world  power,  and  achieved 
for  us  an  international  respect  not  only  on  the 
Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  but  throughout  the 
habitable  world.  Let  me  give  you  a  quaint 
illustration  of  this,  a  little  incident  that  hap- 
pened to  me  at  the  Sublime  Porte.  Twelve 
years  ago,  during  my  former  mission  to  Tur- 
key, they  had  at  the  Porte  as  attendants 
several  deaf  mutes  who  by  gestures  had  a  way 

81 


82  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

of  describing  the  diplomatic  representatives 
of  the  several  countries.  At  that  time  they 
described  me  by  holding  up  their  palms  and 
blowing  upon  them,  indicating  I  had  been 
wafted  from  a  country  far,  far  away.  This 
time,  however,  I  was  told  they  described  me 
by  swinging  their  arms  around  a  circle  to  in- 
dicate that  I  represented  a  great  World 
power. 

Our  country  from  the  beginning  has  been 
represented  by  many  capable  accredited  offi- 
cials in  the  capitals  of  the  world,  yet  the  men 
who  have  done  most  to  advance  American 
prestige  were  two  unaccredited  private  citi- 
zens, the  one  the  hero  of  our  Civil  War,  who 
sheathed  his  sword  with  the  message  to  our 
people:  ''Let  us  have  peace" — General 
Grant — the  other,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  the 
champion  of  the  justified  grievances  of  the 
masses,  who  aroused  the  conscience  of  our 
people  and  won  the  admiration  of  monarch 
and  peasant,  from  Khartoom  to  Christiania, 
for  American  ideas  and  practical  idealism. 
"Americanism,"  said  he,  ''is  a  question  of 
spirit  convictions  and  purpose,  not  of  creed  or 
birthplace." 

We  are  a  commercial  nation,  but  not  a  com- 


GKOWTH  OF  AMERICAN  PRESTIGE   83 

mercialized  people;  we  do  love  the  almighty 
dollar,  but  we  love  the  Almighty  more.  Com- 
merce is  based  on  mutuality  and  reciprocity. 
It  wages  its  contest  not  against  the  people,  but 
against  the  silent  forces  of  nature,  to  put  to 
the  uses  of  man  the  richest  products  of  his 
skill  and  ingenuity,  and  to  raise  the  comforts 
and  standards  of  life  and  living.  Our  diplo- 
macy is  directed  toward  securing  a  fair  field 
and  no  favor,  an  open  door  in  the  markets  of 
the  world,  and  in  that  spirit  we  have  been 
foremost  among  nations  to  lead  to  a  peaceful 
solution  the  most  important  international  dif- 
ferences. We  were  the  first  to  ojDen  the  doors 
of  the  International  Tribunal  at  the  Hague, 
and  in  conjunction  with  Great  Britain  we  have 
submitted  to  it  for  solution  the  gravest  and 
most  difficult  questions  that  ever  have  been 
presented  for  international  arbitral  justice — 
the  Alabama  claims,  and  the  long  pending  and 
often  threatening  fishery  disputes. 

"No  greater  calamity,"  says  Lecky,  "can 
befall  a  nation  than  to  cut  itself  off  from  all 
historical  connection  with  its  own  past,  as 
France  did  during  the  Revolution,"  except,  I 
would  add,  it  be  a  blind  disregard  for  the  wel- 
fare  and   opportunities    of   those   who    come 


84  THE  AMEKICAN  SPIRIT 

after  us.  To  this  destructive  spirit  of  indul- 
gence and  suicidal  disregard  for  the  future,  is 
due,  more  than  to  any  other  cause,  the  fall  of 
the  mighty  empires  of  the  Eastern  World, 
whose  buried  columns,  devastated  forests,  and 
exhausted  lands  still  remain  as  silent  but 
warning  witnesses  to  the  selfishness  of  man 
and  the  folly  of  nations.  Bismarck  said  the 
logic  of  history  is  as  exacting  as  Prussia's  ac- 
counting-oiBce.  To  profit  by  that  logic,  and  to 
instruct  and  arouse  public  conscience,  to 
guard  the  nation's  natural  resources  from 
waste  and  exhaustion,  formed  the  philosoph- 
ical basis  of  the  policies  of  the  last  adminis- 
tration and  of  the  constructive  statesmanship 
of  President  Taft. 

When  great  wealth  is  allied  to  great  souls 
it  is  a  blessing;  but  soulless  wealth  is  an  evil 
in  itself  and  a  menace  to  our  future  as  a  na- 
tion. The  death-knell  of  our  grandeur  and 
prestige  will  sound  when  we  permit  the  men 
who  control  millions  to  reach  out  for  more 
millions  through  political  power,  or  when  we 
permit  men  who  wield  political  power  to  de- 
bauch it  in  reaching  out  for  millions.  No 
form  of  government  can  endure  when  the  in- 
struments through  which  it  works  are  corrupt. 


GROWTH  OF  AMERICAN  PRESTIGE  85 

We  are  blessed  in  the  fact  that  in  no  country 
does  private  munificence  make  so  large  a  con- 
tribution to  benevolence  and  public  uses  as 
with  us,  and  in  no  country  does  humanitarian 
idealism  make  a  deeper  impression  upon  na- 
tional character.  Last  year  when  your  dis- 
tinguished member  John  S.  Kennedy  died,  and 
when  his  will  was  made  public,  with  its  bene- 
factions reaching  from  the  Golden  Gate  of  the 
Pacific  to  the  Golden  Horn  of  the  Bosphorus, 
one  of  the  foremost  European  papers  de- 
clared that  the  Americans  had  found  a  rem- 
edy for  their  swollen  fortunes,  and  that 
remedy  was  in  swollen  benefactions. 

The  unit  of  our  democracy  is  the  individual, 
and  its  basis  is  trust  in  the  people.  The  dis- 
tinguishing feature  between  our  political, 
economical,  and  social  fabric,  and  the  Euro- 
pean systems,  is  that  under  our  system  all  the 
people  have  the  fullest  opportunity  to  reap  the 
benefits  of  individual  liberty,  material  wel- 
fare, and  social  equality;  and  so  long  as  these 
are  preserved — and  to  preserve  them  we  must 
guard  them  not  only  from  above,  but  with  no 
less  determination  and  jealousy  from  below — 
they  will  continue  to  insure  our  stability  and 
happiness  and  be  a  gain  to  the  world  and  to 


86  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

civilization.  So  long  as  our  idle  rich  driff 
abroad,  and  the  honest  laborer  comes  to  us, 
America  will  grow  in  power  and  prestige ;  but 
when  the  tide  is  reversed  it  will  mark  decay. 
With  a  nation  as  with  a  man,  without  ideals 
he  may  maintain  the  present,  but  he  can  not 
help  in  molding  the  future.  Our  ideals  were 
less  recognized  and  lacked  impressiveness  so 
long  as  we  remained  isolated  and  distant;  but 
as  we  are  coming  year  by  year  into  closer 
touch  with  the  nations  of  the  world  in  the 
markets  of  the  world,  and  stand  forth  as  a 
strong  and  righteous  people  for  a  square  deal 
not  only  in  our  home  affairs,  but  also  in  our 
international  relations,  we  shall  march  for- 
ward in  fulfilment  of  Sumner's  prophecy: 
''The  national  example  will  be  more  puissant 
than  army  or  navy  for  the  conquest  of  the 
world."  So  long  as  the  world  conditions  and 
international  relations  are  far  from  ideal,  not- 
withstanding the  progress  that  has  been  made, 
we  must  have  an  adequate  navy  that  will  com- 
mand respect  for  its  size  and  efficiency;  but 
the  Union  Jack  is  not  sufficient  to  advance 
our  prestige  unless  it  is  supplemented  by  a 
merchant  marine.  No  more  patriotic  cause 
appeals  to  the  merchants  and  manufacturers 


GROWTH  OF  AMERICAN  PRESTIGE    87 

of  the  nation  than  to  enlighten  our  legisla- 
tors, so  that  they  will  understand  that  we 
can  never  win  and  retain  our  share  in  the 
markets  of  the  world  so  long  as  we  chain  our 
merchant  flag  to  our  coasts  and  restrain 
American-owned  ships  from  carrying  our 
products  to  distant  shores.  Our  present  laws 
in  their  effect  promote  the  ocean  carrying- 
trade  of  other  nations  and  discriminate 
against  our  merchants  and  our  flag.  I  am  a 
protectionist,  and  because  I  am  I  believe  in 
protecting  not  alone  our  domestic,  but  equally 
our  foreign  trade;  and  that  trade  will  never 
attain  its  legitimate  proportions  until  we 
shape  our  laws  so  that  American  ships — ^by 
which  I  mean  ships  owned  by  Americans  and 
sailing  under  our  flag — can  carry  American 
products  over  every  sea  to  the  four  quarters 
of  the  earth.  If  this  cannot  be  brought  about 
in  any  other  way,  then  let  us  annually  devote 
one-half  the  cost  of  a  man-of-war  as  a  postal 
subsidy  to  the  building  up  of  our  merchant 
marine,  which  sum  will  come  back  to  us  ten- 
fold in  the  increase  of  our  foreign  trade,  and 
in  the  growth  of  American  intercourse  and 
prestige  throughout  the  world. 


VI 

CITIZENSHIP    AND    PROTECTION    OF 
NATURALIZED  CITIZENS  ABROAD 


VI 

CITIZENSHIP    AND    PROTECTION    OF 
NATURALIZED   CITIZENS   ABROAD 

WHEN  the  normal  relations  between  na- 
tions were  those  of  belligerency,  the 
principle  underlying  those  relations  was  the 
predominance  of  might  and  self-interest.  As 
this  attitude  changed  and  gradually  developed 
with  the  advance  of  civilization  into  a  desire 
on  the  part  of  nations  to  maintain  peace  with 
one  another,  so  did  the  relations  change  from 
normal  belligerency  to  normal  amity  and 
friendship.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  this  de- 
velopment the  foreigner  had  no  rights,  he  was 
regarded  as  a  slave;  his  property,  on  the 
slightest  pretext,  was  plundered  or  confis- 
cated;* piracy  was  an  important  and  legiti- 
mate branch  of  international  commerce,  the 
dangers  of  which  could  be  avoided  by  paying 
in  advance  a  stipulated  and  often  regulated 

1  Walker's  Science  of  International  Law,  pp.  214-217. 
91 


92  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

tribute,  which  tribute,  or  tariff,  was  regarded 
very  much  in  the  light  of  marine  insurance. 

If  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  development  to 
which  we   have   referred  has  by  no   means 
reached  its  final  stages ;  that  distinct  signs  of 
arrested  growth  in  varying  degrees  are  not 
only  traceable  but  clearly  evident  in  many  of 
the  principles  as  expounded  by  the  eminent 
authorities  on  international  law,  we  shall  be 
better  able  to  harmonize  as  well  as  to  dis- 
tinguish between  abstract  principles  as  laid 
down  by  the  text-writers  and  specific  cases  as 
adjusted    by    diplomatic    negotiations.    This 
development  also  marks  the  stages  of  evolu- 
tion of  international  relations  from  a  policy 
based  upon  predominant  might  and  self-inter- 
est, to  the  recognition  of  reciprocal  obliga- 
tions based  upon  equal  sovereignty  and  the 
principles  of  justice  as  between  civilized  na- 
tions.   As  the  individuals  composing  a  nation 
became  more  enlightened  and  imbued  with  a 
sense  of  right  and  justice,  so  the  nations  that 
ultimately  reflect  public  opinion  shaped  their 
political  and  executive  relations  toward  each 
other  by  their  laws,  treaties  and  conventions, 
in  order  to  avoid  international  differences  and 
lessen  those  double-edged  controversies  which 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION      93 

arose  out  of  the  conflict  of  sovereignty  and 
were  fruitful  causes  of  war. 

Among  the  questions  coming  under  this 
head,  none  are  of  more  frequent  occurrence 
than  those  growing  out  of  the  conflicting 
claims  of  sovereignty  and  allegiance  made  by 
nations  respecting  their  subjects.^  The  chief 
conflict  arises  out  of  two  classes  of  cases: 

(a)  Where  a  person  is  domiciled  in  a  coun- 
try wherein  he  was  born,  descended  from  a 
father  born  in  the  dominion  of  another  coun- 
try. 

(b)  Where  a  person  born  in  one  country, 
emigrates  therefrom  and  becomes  naturalized 
in  the  country  of  his  adoption,  and  afterward 
returns  to  the  country  of  his  birth. 

The  evolution  and  revolutions  which 
brought  about  the  overthrow  of  Feudalism  as 
a  state  system  have  not  entirely  obliterated 
many  of  the  precedents  that  system  engen- 
dered. It  has  left  in  European  countries,  as 
a  prerogative  of  early  monarchical  claims,  the 

2  Subject  and  citizen  are,  in  a  degree,  convertible  terms  as 
applied  to  natives,  and  though  the  term  citizen  seems  to  be 
appropriate  to  republican  freemen,  yet  we  are,  equally  with 
the  inhabitants  of  all  other  countries,  subjects,  for  we  are 
equally  bound  by  allegiance  and  subjection  to  the  govern- 
ment and  law  of  the  land." — II  Kent's  Commentaries  (6th 
ed.)>  258,  note. 


94  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

idea  of  perpetual  allegiance  transferred  from 
the  liege  lord  to  the  state,  except  in  so  far  as 
these  ideas  had  to  yield  to  the  conflicting 
claims  of  sovereignty,  which  are  chiefly  em- 
bodied in  the  reciprocal  clauses  of  naturaliza- 
tion treaties.  The  feudal  doctrines  never 
have  found  root  in  this  country.  ''The  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  commenced 
with  successful  revolution;  it  was  organized 
on  the  hypothesis  of  allowing  the  largest 
range  to  individual  volition  compatible  with 
public  safety ;  the  people  of  the  United  States 
are  composed  of  emigrants  from  Europe, 
most  of  whom  expatriated  themselves  in  or- 
der to  escape  from  oppression,  or,  if  you 
please,  legal  impediments  to  personal  action, 
in  the  countries  of  their  birth — and  many  of 
whom  were  the  actors  and  the  victims  of  rev- 
olutions or  of  civil  wars.  .  .  .  The  doctrine  of 
absolute  and  perpetual  allegiance — the  root 
of  the  denial  of  any  right  of  emigration — is 
inadmissible  in  the  United  States.  It  was  a 
matter  involved  in  and  settled  by  the  Revolu- 
tion which  founded  the  American  Union.  "^ 
It  has  been  held  even  by  some  of  our  fore- 

3  Foreign  Relations,  1873.  Part  2,   1353-1365.     Opinion  of 
Caleb  Gushing,  Attorney-General. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION      95 

most  jurists  of  former  years,  that  as  we 
adopted  the  common  law  of  England,  as  it  ex- 
isted at  the  time  of  our  separation,  therefore 
we  adopted  the  common-law  doctrine  of  indis- 
soluble allegiance.  ''But  there  are  two  suffi- 
cient answers  to  this  course  of  reasoning;  the 
common  law  of  England  is  not  the  international 
law  of  the  world,  and  we  have  inherited  and 
adopted  the  common  law  of  England  only  in  so 
far  as  its  provisions  and  its  reasoning  are 
adapted  to  our  new  situation  and  our  political 
institutions.  Therefore  the  common-law  doc- 
trine of  indestructible  allegiance  is  not  a  part 
of  the  system  of  American  law,  any  more  than 
it  is  of  the  international  law. ' '  "* 

The  United  States  have  led  the  way  in  the 
overthrow  of  the  feudal  doctrine  of  perpetual 

4  Report  of  George  H.  Yeaman,  United  States  Minister  to 
Denmark.     Diplomatic  Correspondence,  1867,  Part  1,  674. 

"Obviously,  when  the  Constitution  deals  with  common- 
law  phraseology,  the  language  should  be  read  in  the  light 
of  the  common  law;  but  when  the  question  arises  as  to 
what  constitutes  citizenship  of  the  nation,  involving  as  it 
does  international  relations,  and  political  as  distinguished 
from  civil  status,  international  principles  must  be  consid- 
ered, and  unless  the  municipal  law  of  England  appears  to 
have  been  affirmatively  accepted,  it  cannot  be  allowed  to 
control  in  the  matter  of  construction.  Nationality  is  essen- 
tially a  political  idea,  and  belongs  to  the  sphere  of  public 
law."— U.  S.  V.  Wong  Kim  Ark,  U.  S.  Rep.,  Vol.  169,  p.  707 
(1898). 


96  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

allegiance.  From  the  earliest  times  the  ex- 
ecutive branch  of  the  Government  has  con- 
sistently upheld  the  right  of  expatriation,  and 
opposed  the  doctrine  of  indissoluble  allegiance. 
In  1793  Mr.  Jefferson,  then  Secretary  of  State, 
in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Morris,  said:  ''Our  citizens 
are  certainly  free  to  divest  themselves  of  that 
character  by  emigrating,  and  other  acts  mani- 
festing their  intention,  and  may  then  become 
the  subjects  of  another  power,  and  free  to  do 
whatever  the  subjects  of  that  power  may  do." 
Again,  in  1794,  Mr.  Randolph,  Secretary  of 
State,  relative  to  the  alleged  expatriation  of 
one.  Captain  Talbot,  said:  ''I  can  not  doubt 
that  Captain  Talbot  has  taken  an  oath  to  the 
French  Republic,  and  at  the  same  time  I  ac- 
knowledge my  belief  that  no  law  of  any  of  the 
States  prohibits  expatriation." 

The  United  States  have  never  passed  any 
law  restraining  their  own  citizens,  native  or 
naturalized,  from  leaving  the  country  and 
forming  political  relations  elsewhere.^  Be- 
sides, the  naturalization  laws  of  the  United 
States  are  inconsistent  with  this  doctrine,  as 
they  require  an  alien  who  is  to  be  naturalized, 

5  Webster,  Secretary  of  State,  to  Mr.  Thompson,  July  8, 
1842.     Wharton's  International  Law  Digest,  Vol.  II,  310. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION      97 

to  abjure  his  former  allegiance  without  taking 
cognizance  whether  his  sovereign  of  origin  has 
released  him. 

The  right  of  expatriation  was  expressly  rec- 
ognized by  the  Act  of  1868,  whose  preamble 
reads:  "Whereas  the  right  of  expatriation  is 
a  natural  and  inherent  right  of  all  people,  in- 
dispensable to  the  enjoyment  of  the  rights  of 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  and 
whereas  in  the  recognition  of  this  principle 
this  Government  has  freely  received  emigrants 
from  all  nations,  and  invested  them  with  the 
rights  of  citizenship,"  &c. 

Our  foreign  relations  are  replete  with  cases 
wherein  we  have  consistently  urged  and  gener^ 
ally  upheld  the  doctrine  of  the  inherent  right 
of  expatriation.  The  insistence  upon  this 
right  brought  us  into  war  with  England  in 
1812,  and  again  in  1848  came  near  bringing  us 
into  hostile  collision  with  Austria,  arising  out 
of  the  case  of  Martin  Koszta.  The  peculiar 
circumstances  and  the  summary  manner  in 
which  Martin  Koszta  was  seized  or  rather  kid- 
napped by  the  Austrian  authorities  in  neutral 
territory,  provoked,  if  they  did  not  entirely 
justify  the  extreme  claim  of  protection  by  the 
United  States.    The  case  is  commented  upon 


98  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

in  all  the  text-books.  Martin  Koszta  was  a 
Hungarian  insurgent  of  1848-9.  He  escaped 
to  Turkey,  and  went  thence  to  the  United 
States,  and  in  1852  made  the  usual  declaration 
preparatory  to  being  naturalized  under  our 
laws.  In  1854  he  returned  to  Turkey.  At 
Smyrna,  by  order  of  the  Austrian  Consul,  he 
was  seized  while  on  shore  and  thrown  into  the 
water,  taken  up  by  the  crew  of  the  Hussar,  an 
Austrian  frigate,  and  put  into  irons.  Before 
the  boat  got  under  way  an  American  frigate 
arrived  and  threatened  to  sink  the  Austrian 
vessel  unless  Koszta  was  released.  This  led 
to  an  arrangement  by  which  he  was  put  under 
the  custody  of  the  French  Consul-General,  un- 
til the  governments  should  come  to  an  under- 
standing. The  Turkish  authorities  had  re- 
fused to  allow  his  arrest,  and  Austria,  it  seems, 
subsequently  claimed  a  right  to  arrest  him  un- 
der the  capitulations.  I  have  examined  these 
capitulations,  but  do  not  find  a  basis  for  such 
claim.  This  point  I  find  referred  to  in  the 
correspondence,  but  not  by  the  text-writers  in 
their  discussion  of  the  case.  This  fact  doubt- 
less influenced  Mr.  Marcy,  Secretary  of  State, 
to  expand  the  doctrine  of  protection  so  as  to 
include  inchoate  citizenship  under  such  excep- 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION      99 

tional  circumstances.  Besides,  as  Secretary 
Marcy  correctly  emphasized,  Koszta  bad  been 
banisbed  by  Austria,  and  banishment,  under 
the  law  of  nations,  operates  as  a  release  of  al- 
legiance. So  in  any  event  Austria  was 
estopped  by  her  own  act.  That  this  is  a  fact, 
is  borne  out  by  the  action  of  Secretary  Marcy 
in  the  case  of  Simon  Tousig,  who  also  had  filed 
his  declaration  to  become  an  American  citizen. 
On  returning  to  Austria,  Tousig  was  arrested 
for  the  same  cause,  participation  in  the  Hun- 
garian insurrection.  Mr.  Marcy  refused  to  in- 
terfere, and  said:  ''Every  nation,  whenever 
the  laws  are  violated  by  any  owing  obedience 
to  them,  whether  he  be  a  citizen  or  a  stranger, 
has  a  right  to  inflict  the  penalties  incurred 
upon  the  transgressor  if  found  within  its  juris- 
diction." 

England,  while  freely  allowing  liberty  of 
emigration,  held  to  the  principle  of  indelible 
allegiance  until  1870.  Her  former  attitude 
was  neither  logical  nor  consistent,  in  that  she 
did  not  follow  her  emigrants  to  other  countries 
with  English  protection,  but  claimed  the  right 
of  their  allegiance  whenever  she  chose  to  de- 
mand it.  So  long  as  they  remained  in  a  for- 
eign country  they  were  held  to  their  foreign 


100  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

claim  of  allegiance,  and  were  estopped  from 
asking  British  protection;  yet  when  they  re- 
turned to  England  the  claim  of  their  foreign 
allegiance  was  not  admitted.  There  is  no 
more  striking  illustration  of  conflict  of  sover- 
eignty arising  out  of  opposing  doctrines  main- 
tained by  two  nations  on  the  question  of  ex- 
patriation than  the  causes  that  brought  on  the 
Anglo-American  war  of  1812.  So  long  as 
these  opposing  doctrines  were  insisted  upon, 
all  efforts  to  arrive  at  a  peaceful  arrangement 
proved  futile.^  In  1807  the  King  issued  a 
proclamation  containing  the  following  passage, 
"Now  we  do  hereby  warn  all  such  mariners, 
seafaring  men,  and  others,  our  natural-bom 
subjects,  that  no  such  letters  of  naturalization, 
or  certificates  of  citizenship,  do,  or  can,  in  any 
manner  divest  our  natural-born  subjects  of  the 
allegiance,  or  in  any  degree  alter  the  duty, 
which  they  owe  to  us,  their  lawful  sovereign.'* 
In  1809  Mr.  Smith,  the  American  Secretary 
of  State,  in  a  dispatch  to  Mr.  Pinckney,  our 
Minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  announcing 
the  refusal  of  the  President  to  accord  further 

«The  negotiations  are  detailed  in  the  Appendix  to  the 
Report  of  the  British  Royal  Commissioners  on  the  Laws  of 
Naturalization  and  Allegiance   (1869). 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION     101 

official  intercourse  with  Mr.  Jackson,  tlie  Brit- 
ish representative,  whose  negotiations  his 
government  had  disavowed,  wrote:  ''What 
possible  consideration  could  have  induced  the 
British  Government  to  expect  that  the  United 
States  would  admit  a  principle  that  would  de- 
prive our  naturalized  citizens  of  the  legal  priv- 
ileges which  they  hold  in  common  with  their 
native  born  fellow-citizens?" 

Englishmen  naturalized  in  the  United  States 
were  impressed  from  on  board  American  ves- 
sels for  service  in  the  English  Navy.  Presi- 
dent Madison,  in  his  inaugural  address  on 
March  4,  1813,  referred  to  this  attitude  of 
England,  saying:  "They  have  refused  to  con- 
sider as  prisoners  of  war,  and  threaten  to  pun- 
ish as  traitors  and  deserters,  persons  emigrat- 
ing without  restraint  to  the  United  States,  in- 
corporated by  naturalization  into  our  political 
family,  and  fighting  under  the  authority  of 
their  adopted  country  in  open  and  honorable 
war,  for  the  maintenance  of  its  rights  and 
safety.  Such  is  the  avowed  purpose  of  a  Gov- 
ernment which  is  in  the  practice  of  naturaliz- 
ing by  thousands  citizens  of  other  countries, 
and  not  only  of  permitting  but  compelling  them 
to  fight  against  their  native  country." 


102  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

Mr.  Monroe,  when  Secretary  of  State,  in  the 
instructions  to  the  American  Commissioners 
for  negotiating  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  (April  15, 
1814),  says:  ''It  is  contended  by  some 
...  by  naturalizing  a  foreigner,  no  state 
can  absolve  him  from  the  obligation  which  he 
owes  to  his  former  government,  and  that  he 
becomes  a  citizen  in  a  qualified  sense  only. 
This  doctrine,  if  true  in  any  case,  is  less  ap- 
plicable to  the  United  States  than  to  any  other 
power.  Expatriation  seems  to  be  a  natural 
right,  and  by  the  original  character  of  our  in- 
stitutions, founded  by  compact  on  principle, 
and  particularly  by  the  unqualified  investment 
of  the  adopted  citizen  with  the  full  rights  of 
the  native,  all  that  the  United  States  could  do 
to  place  him  on  the  same  footing  has  been 
done." 

I  cite  these  opinions  out  of  many  of  a  like 
nature  as  showing  the  divergent  positions 
taken  by  England  and  the  United  States  upon 
this  subject.  The  Prince  Regent,  in  the  Proc- 
lamation issued  on  July  24,  1814,  recalling  and 
prohibiting  natural  born  subjects  of  His  Maj- 
esty from  serving  in  the  ships  and  armies  of 
the  United  States,  entirely  disregarded  Amer- 
ican naturalization  and  gave  notice  to  those 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION    103 

who  remained  in  the  service  that  they  would 
be  treated  as  guilty  of  high  treason.  Of 
course,  this  extreme  position  was  due  to  the 
existence  of  war  between  the  two  countries, 
and  was  regarded  as  a  war  measure. 

In  the  negotiations  which  terminated  in  the 
treaty  of  Ghent,  the  Commissioners  did  their 
utmost  to  incorporate  the  claims  of  the  respec- 
tive governments  as  to  expatriation  and  per- 
petual allegiance;  but  it  was  found  that  the 
divergent  positions  under  their  instructions 
could  not  be  harmonized,  so  that  question  was 
dropped,  the  United  States  Commissioners 
saying:  "The  causes  of  war  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  having  disap- 
peared by  the  maritime  pacification  of  Europe, 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  did  not 
desire  to  continue  it  in  defense  of  abstract 
principles,  which  have,  for  the  present,  ceased 
to  have  any  practical  effect."'^  Yet  on  ex- 
amination of  this  treaty  it  will  be  seen  that 
Article  III  provides  for  the  restoration  of  all 
prisoners  of  war.  This  was  by  implication  an 
abandonment  of  the  extreme  position  taken  by 
Great  Britain,  and  to  that  extent  a  recognition 
of    the    American    doctrine    of    expatriation. 

1  Royal  Commissioners'  Report,  p.  37. 


104  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

With  the  abandonment  by  Great  Britain  of  im- 
pressment as  a  means  of  manning  her  navy, 
the  sources  of  possible  collision  upon  this  ques- 
tion were  removed.    From  time  to  time  the 
United  States  made  advances  to  open  negotia- 
tions with  Great  Britain  upon  the  subject  of 
expatriation,  but  successive  English  govern- 
ments, though  they  had  abandoned  in  practice 
the  claim  of  perpetual  allegiance,  refused  to 
come  to  a  definite  understanding  on  the  ques- 
tion.   In  1842  Lord  Ashburton  was  sent  on  a 
special  mission  to  the  United  States,  author- 
ized to  negotiate  for  the  settlement  of  all  ex- 
isting differences  between  the  two  countries. 
Mr.  Webster,  embracing  this  opportunity,  ad- 
dressed a  note  to  him  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
ing to  an  arrangement  upon  these  questions, 
setting  forth  the  efforts  that  had  been  made  by 
the  United  States  in  that  direction  for  the  past 
fifty  years.     Lord  Ashburton,  however,  put  the 
negotiations  aside,  declaring  that  his  instruc- 
tions limited  him  to  existing  subjects  of  differ- 
ence.    He  said:     ''I  am  well  aware  that  the 
laws  of  our  two  countries  maintain  opposite 
principles  respecting  allegiance  to  the  sover- 
eign.    America,  receiving  every  year  by  thou- 
sands the  emigrants  of  Europe,  maintains  the 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION    105 

doctrines  suitable  to  her  condition,  of  the  rigM 
of  transferring  allegiance  at  will.  The  laws  of 
Great  Britain  have  at  all  times  maintained  the 
opposite  doctrine." 

Diplomatic  conflicts  with  England  and  other 
countries,  arising  out  of  this  question  of  alle- 
giance and  expatriation,  continually  presented 
themselves.  In  1848,  during  the  Irish  disturb- 
ances of  that  year,  Bergen,  a  native  Ameri- 
can, and  Ryan,  an  Irishman  naturalized  in 
America,  were  arrested  on  suspicion  of 
treason.  Mr.  Bancroft,  our  Minister  to  Eng- 
land, remonstrated  against  the  treatment  of 
the  arrested  persons  as  subjects  of  Great  Brit- 
ain. Lord  Palmerston,  in  his  answer,  upheld 
the  traditional  doctrine  of  perpetual  allegiance. 
Mr.  Buchanan,  Secretary  of  State,  instructed 
Mr.  Bancroft:  ''Whenever  the  occasion  may 
require  it,  you  will  resist  the  British  doctrine 
of  perpetual  allegiance,  and  maintain  the 
American  principle,  that  British  native-born 
subjects  after  they  have  been  naturalized  un- 
der our  laws,  are  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as 
much  American  citizens,  and  entitled  to  the 
same  degree  of  protection,  as  though  they  had 
been  born  in  the  United  States."  While  these 
conflicting  views  were  expressed,  it  resulted  in 


106  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  liberation  of  Bergen  and  Ryan  on  condi- 
tion of  their  leaving  the  kingdom.^ 

In  1859  Mr.  Cass,  Secretary  of  State,  in  his 
instructions  to  Mr.  Wright,  our  Minister  to 
Prussia,  respecting  the  protection  of  our  nat- 
uralized citizens  of  Prussian  origin,  who  on 
their  return  were  arrested  under  the  regula- 
tions for  enlistment  and  the  laws  against  expa- 
triation, said:  "The  moment  a  foreigner  be- 
comes naturalized,  his  allegiance  to  his  native 
country  becomes  severed  forever.  He  experi- 
ences a  new  political  birth.  A  broad  and  im- 
passable line  separates  him  from  his  native 
country.  He  is  no  more  responsible  for  any- 
thing he  may  say  or  do,  or  omit  to  say  or  do, 
after  assuming  his  new  character,  than  if  he 
had  been  born  in  the  United  States.  Should 
he  return  to  his  native  country,  he  returns  as 
an  American  citizen,  and  in  no  other  charac- 
ter. In  order  to  entitle  his  original  govern- 
ment to  punish  him  for  an  offense,  this  must 
have  been  committed  while  he  was  a  subject 
and  owed  allegiance  to  that  government. 
...  A  future  liability  to  serve  in  the  army 
will  not  be  sufficient,  because  before  that  time 
can  arrive  for  such  service  he  has  changed  his 

8  Royal  Commissionera'  Report,  p.  40. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION    107 

allegiance  and  become  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States."  He  then  distinguishes  between  these 
cases  and  those  where  the  person  had  been 
drafted  or  had  actually  deserted  prior  to  emi- 
gration.^ 

Another  important  case  that  came  up  at  this 
time  was  that  of  Christian  Ernst.  He  was  a 
native  of  Hanover,  and  emigrated  to  this  coun- 
try in  1851,  when  he  was  about  nineteen  years 
of  age.  In  February,  1859,  he  was  natural- 
ized, and  in  March,  after  procuring  a  passport, 
he  went  back  to  Hanover  on  a  temporary  visit. 
He  had  been  in  the  village  where  he  was  born 
about  three  weeks,  when  he  was  arrested,  car- 
ried to  the  nearest  military  station,  and  forced 
into  the  Hanoverian  army.  Upon  this  state  of 
facts  Mr.  Caleb  Cushing,  the  Attorney-Gen- 
eral, said:  ''I  know  that  the  common  law  of 
England  denies  it  (the  right  of  expatriation) ; 
that  the  judicial  decisions  of  that  country  are 
opposed  to  it;  and  that  some  of  our  courts, 
misled  by  British  authority,  have  expressed, 
though  not  very  decisively,  the  same  opinion. 
But  all  this  is  very  far  from  settling  the  ques- 

9U.  S.  Senate  Documents,  1858-60,  Vol.  II,  1364.  Report 
on  Expatriation  and  Naturalization,  Foreign  Relations,  1873, 
II,  1295. 


108  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

tion.  The  municipal  code  of  England  is  not 
one  of  the  sources  from  which  we  derive  our 
knowledge  of  international  law.  We  take  it 
from  natural  reason  and  from  the  practice  of 
civilized  nations.  All  these  are  opposed  to  the 
doctrine  of  perpetual  allegiance.  It  is  too  in- 
jurious to  the  general  interests  of  mankind  to 
be  tolerated;  justice  denies  that  men  should 
either  be  confined  to  their  native  soil,  or  driven 
away  from  it,  against  their  will.  Expatria- 
tion includes  not  only  emigration  out  of  one's 
native  country,  but  naturalization  in  the  coun- 
try adopted  as  a  future  residence.^^ 

The  next  class  of  cases  which  brought  this 
question  to  the  foreground  in  our  diplomacy 
were  those  arising  out  of  the  Fenian  arrests, 
and  the  suspension  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act 
in  Ireland  in  1866.1^  These  cases  (the  Fenian) 
and  those  with  Prussia  gave  rise  to  political 
agitation  which  stimulated  Congress  to  place 
our  policy  regarding  the  protection  of  our 
naturalized  citizens  in  foreign  countries  and 
our  doctrine  regarding  the  right  of  expatria- 
tion in  a  definite  enactment,  so  that  there 
might  no  longer  be  doubt  as  to  our  position  or 

10  Ibid.,  Foreign  Relations,  1873,  II,  1203. 
"  Foreign  Relations,  1866. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION     109 

any  question  respecting  a  conflict  between  the 
decisions  of  the  courts  and  the  executive  branch 
of  the  government.  This  act  of  Congress,  July 
27,  1868,  the  preamble  of  which  I  have  quoted, 
declared  the  principles  upon  which  the  natu- 
ralization laws  of  the  United  States  always 
rested,  and  gave  legislative  sanction  to  the  doc- 
trine uniformly  held  by  the  executive  and  po- 
litical branches  of  the  Government.  It  en- 
acted: (Sec.  2)  "That  all  naturalized  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  while  in  foreign  states, 
shall  be  entitled  to,  and  shall  receive,  from  this 
government  the  same  protection  of  persons 
and  property  that  is  accorded  to  native-born 
citizens  in  like  situations  and  circumstances." 
The  foreign  relations  in  all  countries  to  a 
degree  are  shaped  by  internal  conditions,  and 
doubtless  this  law,  enacted  to  win  over  for- 
eign-horn citizens  to  the  support  of  the  party 
in  power,  while  entirely  applicable  for  the  pro- 
tection of  this  class  of  citizens  within  the  juris- 
diction of  the  United  States,  has  in  many 
instances  been  found  impracticable  or  impos- 
sible to  enforce,  where  a  foreign-born  citizen 
has  returned  to  the  country  of  his  birth. 
These  latter  cases  have  caused  endless  vexa- 
tious negotiations,  at  times  imperiling  the  good 


110  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

relations  of  our  country  with  other  nations. 

The  fact  is,  the  same  year  this  Act  was 
passed  we  concluded  the  first  of  our  series  of 
naturalization  treaties,  wherein  we  limited, 
save  under  exceptional  circumstances,  the 
period  of  protection  of  naturalized  citizens  to 
two  years  after  their  return  to,  and  residence 
in  the  country  of  their  origin.  And  yet  the 
United  States  goes  further  in  the  protection 
of  its  naturalized  citizens,  even  under  these 
circumstances,  than  any  other  country.  Great 
Britain,  for  instance,  while  freely  according 
naturalization,  has  relieved  herself  from  pro- 
tecting her  foreign-born  subjects  on  their  re- 
turn to  the  country  of  their  origin.^^ 

We  have  treaties  of  naturalization  with  the 
following  countries :  Austria-Hungary,  Baden, 
Bavaria,  Belgium,  Denmark,  Ecuador,  Great 
Britain,  Hesse-Darmstadt,  the  North  German 
Union,  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Wurtemberg. 
These  treaties  have  had  a  restraining  as  well 

12  The  Naturalization  Act,  1870,  paragraph  7,  subdivision 
3:  "An  alien  to  whom  a  certificate  of  naturalization  is 
granted  .  .  .  shall  not,  when  within  the  limits  of  the  for- 
eign state  of  which  he  was  a  subject  previously  to  obtaining 
his  certificate  of  naturalization,  be  deemed  to  be  a  British 
subject  unless  he  has  ceased  to  be  a  subject  of  that  state 
in  pursuance  of  the  laws  thereof,  or  in  pursuance  of  a  treaty 
to  that  effect." 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION     111 

as  eliminating  effect — restraining  such  as 
otherwise  would  seek  our  naturalization  with 
the  purpose  of  returning  to  the  country  of  their 
origin  and  there  claiming  the  protection  of  our 
laws;  and  an  eliminating  effect,  in  relieving 
our  country,  with  certain  exceptions,  from  pro- 
tection of  naturalized  citizens  on  their  return 
to  their  country  of  origin  after  a  residence 
therein  of  two  years  or  more. 

The  Act  of  1868,  in  reference  to  countries 
with  which  we  have  treaties  of  naturalization, 
is  modified  by  the  two-year  clause  of  such 
treaties;  but  with  such  countries  as  Turkey, 
Russia,  France,  Mexico,  and  the  other  Repub- 
lics of  this  hemisphere,  with  which  we  have  as 
yet  no  treaty  of  naturalization,  continual  con- 
flicts arise,  which  are  aggravated  in  times  of 
revolution  or  other  domestic  disturbances  in 
such  countries,  by  the  return  of  their  former 
subjects  clothed  with  American  naturalization. 
A  large  part  of  the  time  of  our  State  Depart- 
ment and  our  diplomatic  agents  is  taken  up 
with  this  class  of  cases,  which  often  menace 
our  friendly  relations. 

My  purpose  in  presenting  this  subject,  aside 
from  the  importance  of  the  questions  involved, 
is  to  direct  attention  to  the  advisability,  if  not 


112  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  imperative  duty,  of  modifying  our  laws  re- 
garding naturalization  in  respect  to  that  spe- 
cial class  of  our  naturalized  citizens  who  are  a 
constant  menace  to  our  friendly  relations  with 
other  nations.  I  refer  to  that  class  whose 
citizenship,  though  regular  in  form,  yet  in  the 
light  of  intent  and  purpose  to  which  it  is  ap- 
plied, is  a  fraud  upon  two  countries,  our  own 
and  the  country  of  their  nativity — ' '  thus  mak- 
ing the  claim  to  American  citizenship  the  pre- 
text for  avoiding  duties  to  one  country,  while 
absence  secures  them  from  duties  to  the 
other. ' '  ^^  From  my  experience  in  Turkey  I 
feel  justified  in  saying  that  a  very  large  pro- 
portion of  American  naturalized  citizens  of 
Ottoman  origin,  who  return  to  their  former 
country,  come  under  this  class.  The  same  is 
true  to  some  extent  as  to  the  same  class  of 
naturalized  citizens  in  other  countries.^'* 
Our  diplomatic  relations  with  Spain  for  the 

13  Secretary  Fish,  Opinions  of  the  Heads  of  the  Executive 
Departments  relating  to  Expatriation,  Naturalization,  and 
Change  of  Allegiance.     U.   S.   Foreign  Relations,   1873'. 

1*  This  condition  has  been  largely  remedied  by  the  Act  of 
March  2,  1907,  which  provides:  "When  any  naturalized  cit- 
izen shall  have  resided  for  two  years  in  the  foreign  state  from 
which  he  came,  or  for  five  years  in  any  other  foreign  state, 
it  shall  be  presumed  that  he  has  ceased  to  be  an  American 
citizen."  This  presumption,  in  certain  cases,  may  be  over- 
come. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION    113 

past  fifty  years  bear  proof  of  the  extent  to 
which  our  naturalized  citizens  of  Cuban  origin 
were  responsible  for  the  chronic  state  of  insur- 
rection, fostered  by  filibustering  expeditions 
from  the  United  States,  which  eventually 
brought  on  our  recent  war  with  Spain. 

Our  relations  with  Mexico  and  with  other 
American  Republics  would  be  far  less  liable  to 
vexatious  differences,  and  would  be  more  per- 
manently friendly,  but  for  the  machinations 
of  this  same  class  of  citizens,  who  return  to 
their  country  of  origin  to  exploit  their  native 
country,  and  embroil  the  country  of  their  nomi- 
nal adoption. 

Naturalization  effected  in  the  United  States 
without  any  intent  to  reside  permanently 
therein,  but  with  a  view  of  residing  in  another 
country,  especially  when  such  other  country  is 
the  country  of  origin,  and  using  such  natural- 
ization to  evade  duties  and  responsibilities  that 
would  otherwise  attach  to  such  persons,  should 
be  treated  by  our  Government  as  fraudulent 
and  as  imposing  no  obligation  upon  it  to  pro- 
tect such  person.  In  practice  the  facts  are  not 
always  apparent,  as  all  kinds  of  subterfuges 
are  used  to  conceal  them.    Many  instances  of 


114  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

this  kind  may  be  cited,  and  in  some  of  these 
our  country  went  to  the  verge  of  war  in  behalf 
of  citizens  who  never  had,  and  could  not  have, 
any  feeling  of  loyalty  to  the  United  States, 
much  less  any  knowledge  or  appreciation  of 
our  form  of  government.    A  case  which  came 
near  involving  us  in  war  with  Ecuador  oc- 
curred in   1885— that   of  Julio   R.   Santos. ^^ 
Santos  was  born  in  Ecuador  of  Ecuadorian 
parents.    He  came  to  the  United  States,  where 
he  was  naturalized,  and  afterward  returned  to 
the  country  of  his  birth,  where  he  was  engaged 
in  business  for  a  period  of  six  years,  when  he 
was  arrested  for  complicity  in  the  revolution 
of  1884,  for  which,  together  with  other  rebels, 
he  was  tried  and  convicted.     The  matter  de- 
veloped much  irritation  and  was  a  severe  strain 
upon  our  relations  and  was  not  finally  settled 
until  our  contention  was  backed  up  by  a  man- 
of-war. 

The  reason  that  acquired  citizenship  has 
been  and  will  continue  to  be  more  abused  in 
the  United  States  than  in  other  countries,  is 
not  that  during  the  last  hundred  years  the  tide 
of  emigration  has  been  directed  to  our  shores, 
but  that  naturalization  in  other  countries  is 

15  Foreign  Relations,  1886,  pp.  224-297. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION     115 

either  not  so  easily  acquired  or  is  granted  only 
with  the  consent  of  the  native  state.  To  coun- 
tries wherein  naturalization  is  granted  only 
with  consent  of  the  native  state,  restrictions 
are  usually  imposed  by  the  native  state  as  a 
condition  for  that  consent,  while  for  such 
countries  as  come  under  the  former  classifica- 
tion, as  a  rule,  only  a  limited  naturalization  is 
accorded,  which  imposes  no  obligation  to  pro- 
tection beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  state 
granting  such  naturalization.^^ 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  advocate  an  abridg- 
ment of  the  American  doctrines  of  citizenship 
and  expatriation,  which  are  so  consonant  with 
principles  of  personal  liberty.  I  do,  however, 
advocate  the  elimination  of  those  naturalized 
citizens  who,  taking  advantage  of  the  broad 
and  generous  provisions  of  our  naturalization 
laws,  not  for  the  purpose  of  residing  in  the 
United  States,  nor  with  any  intention  to  re- 
spond to  the  duties  that  citizenship  in  this 
country  involves,  return  to  their  native  coun- 
try, and  through  their  acquired  citizenship 
seek  to  escape  the  burdens  of  their  native  alle- 
le For  a  summary  of  the  laws  of  other  countries  upon 
Naturalization  and  Expatriation  see  Foreign  Relations  of 
the  U.  S.,  1873,  pp.  1276-1293.  Hall's  International  Law, 
pp.  231-6. 


116  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

giance.  That  class,  under  the  pretext  of  loy- 
alty to  their  adopted  country,  commit  treason- 
able acts  in  the  country  of  their  nativity,  and 
thereby  seek  to  involve  the  United  States  in 
the  domestic  turmoils  and  rebellions  in  their 
native  country.  This  abuse  is  not  eliminated 
by  our  naturalization  treaties,  it  is  circum- 
scribed to  an  extent  by  the  two-year  clause  in 
such  treaties;  but  we  have  found  within  the 
two  years  after  the  return  of  naturalized  citi- 
zens to  their  native  country,  or  during  a  resi- 
dence declared  to  be  temporary,  but  in  fact 
permanent,  it  often  happens  these  citizens 
have  been  apprehended  as  participants  in  revo- 
lutions they  have  promoted  even  while  resid- 
ing in  the  United  States  pending  the  acquiring 
of  citizenship.  The  dangers  from  this  class  of 
citizens  have  been  largely  augmented  in  recent 
years  by  the  rapid  means  of  travel  on  land  and 
sea,  together  with  the  facilities  of  communica- 
tion by  telegraph,  coupled  with  our  natural 
world-wide  sympathies  for  people  struggling 
against  oppression. 

The  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  in 
their  annual  messages  since  our  Civil  War, 
have  again  and  again  called  attention  to  the 
unsatisfactory  and  defective  condition  of  our 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION    117 

laws.  President  Grant,  in  his  annual  message 
of  1875,  referring  to  this  special  phase  of  the 
subject,  says:  *'In  other  cases  naturalized  citi- 
zens, immediately  after  naturalization,  have  re- 
turned to  their  native  country,  have  become  en- 
gaged in  business,  have  accepted  offices  or  pur- 
suits inconsistent  with  American  citizenship, 
and  evidence  no  intent  to  return  to  the  United 
States  until  called  upon  to  discharge  some  duty 
to  the  country  where  they  are  residing,  when 
at  once  they  assert  their  citizenship  and  call 
upon  the  representatives  of  the  Government  to 
aid  them  in  their  unjust  pretensions.  It  is 
but  just  to  all  bona  fide  citizens  that  no  doubt 
should  exist  in  such  questions,  and  that  Con- 
gress should  determine  by  enactment  of  law 
how  expatriation  may  be  accomplished  and 
change  of  citizenship  be  established.^' 

President  Cleveland,  in  his  Annual  Message 
of  1888,  says:  ''That  easy  and  unguarded 
manner  in  which  certificates  of  American  citi- 
zenship can  now  be  obtained  has  induced  a 
class,  unfortunately  large,  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  to  become  absolved  from 
allegiance  to  their  native  land,  and  yet  by  a 

17  Richardson's  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents, 
Vol.  Ill,  347. 


118  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

foreign  residence  to  escape  any  just  duty  and 
contribution  of  service  to  the  country  of  their 
proposed  adoption.  Thus,  while  evading  the 
duties  of  citizenship  to  the  United  States,  they 
may  make  prompt  claim  for  its  national  pro- 
tection and  demand  its  intervention  in  their 
behalf.  International  complications  of  a  seri- 
ous nature  arise. ^^ 

As  matters  now  stand,  with  the  law  of  1868, 
which  provides  that  the  same  protection  shall 
be  accorded  to  naturalized  as  to  native-born 
citizens  in  foreign  countries,  and  in  the  absence 
of  any  laws  providing  by  what  voluntary  acts 
or  circumstances  expatriation  is  effected,  this 
class  of  questions,  if  not  the  most  important, 
certainly  the  most  frequently  occurring  in  our 
diplomacy,  is  largely  left  to  haphazard,  and  to 
contradictory  evidence  and  circumstances  for 
decision. 

Secretary  Fish,  in  an  instruction  to  Mr. 
Washburn,  our  Minister  to  France,  refers  to 
the  difficulties  surrounding  such  cases,  and  in- 
dicates a  distinction  that  must  necessarily  be 
made  between  native-born  and  such  naturalized 
citizens  as  have  returned  to  the  country  of 
their  birth,  as  to  when  and  whether  they  are 

18  Ibid.,  Vol.  VIII,  785. 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION    119 

entitled  to  the  protection  of  our  Government. 
He  says:  *'But  where  a  naturalized  citizen  re- 
turns to  his  native  land  to  reside,  the  action  of 
the  treaty-making  power  above  referred  to 
would  seem  to  require  that  such  agents  be  jeal- 
ous and  scrutinizing  when  he  seeks  their  inter- 
vention. Even  in  such  cases  the  purpose  of 
not  renouncing  the  adopted  citizenship  might 
be  manifested  and  proven  in  various  ways, 
etc."  ^®  In  other  words,  the  Executive  Depart- 
ment of  our  Government,  through  force  of  cir- 
cumstances, has  found  itself  compelled  to  read 
an  exception  in  the  Act  of  1868,  and  in  certain 
cases  to  withhold  its  protection  from  natural- 
ized citizens  who  have  returned  to  their  native 
country  and  concerning  whom  the  circum- 
stances justified  the  conclusion  that  they  have 
abandoned  their  acquired  citizenship.  In  al- 
most every  case  where  this  conclusion  is  ar- 
rived at,  it  has  been  done  in  contradiction  to 
the  person's  demand  for  protection  and  to  his 
pretension  of  not  having  abandoned  his  United 
States  citizenship.  In  practice  the  application 
of  these  principles  is  difficult,  and  at  times  our 
Government  finds  itself  committed  to  the  pro- 
tection of  persons  for  whom  it  doubtless  would 

"Foreign  Relations,   1873,  p.  260. 


120  THE  AMERICAN  SPIEIT 

liave  declined  to  intervene  had  all  the  circum- 
stances come  to  its  knowledge  before  any  ac- 
tion had  been  taken  by  its  naval  officers  or  dip- 
lomatic officials,  but  having  once  asserted  its 
right  to  accord  protection,  and  having  been 
committed  thereto  by  its  agents,  it  is  difficult 
without  loss  of  national  prestige  for  the  Gov- 
ernment to  recede  from  its  position. 

The  United  States,  in  consonance  with  the 
spirit  of  personal  liberty  which  underlies  the 
fabric  of  its  laws,  has  had  a  marked  influence 
upon  European  powers  in  its  maintenance  of 
the  right  of  expatriation,  and  in  inducing  them 
to  recede  from  the  doctrine  of  perpetual  alle- 
giance; therefore,  all  the  more  should  it  have 
a  care  to  guard  that  right  and  prevent  it  from 
being  perverted  and  abused  to  the  detriment  of 
its  bona  fide  citizens  and  to  the  jeopardy  of 
its  relations  with  other  nations.  Because  from 
the  beginning  of  our  Government  we  have  en- 
couraged immigration  by  liberal  laws,  and 
freely  endowed  the  emigrants  and  refugees 
from  the  Old  World  with  a  new  national  birth 
by  investing  them  with  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  American  citizens,  we  should  be  jealous 
of  the  duties  and  obligations  those  privileges 
impose  by  discouraging  the  immigration  of 


CITIZENSHIP  AND  PROTECTION    121 

such  persons  as  come  among  us  only  to  acquire 
our  citizenship  as  a  pretext  for  seeking  our 
protection  upon  their  return  to  reside  perma- 
nently in  the  country  of  their  birth. 

There  are  several  ways  of  reaching  the  de- 
sired result,  either  by  adopting  some  such  form 
respecting  naturalization  as  obtains  in  Great 
Britain,  or  by  the  passage  of  an  amendment  to 
the  existing  laws  to  the  effect  that  the  return 
of  a  naturalized  citizen  to  the  country  of  his 
nativity,  except  for  a  temporary  stay  or  a 
brief  visit,  shall  be  presumptive  evidence  of 
the  abandonment  of  his  American  citizenship. 
While  this  will  not  be  a  complete  remedy,  such 
a  law  would  also  have  the  effect  of  deterring 
the  immigration  of  such  persons  as  most  abuse 
the  high  privileges  of  American  citizenship, 
who  are  a  continual  menace  to  our  friendly  re- 
lations with  other  countries. 

The  inevitable  consequences  of  our  Spanish 
War,  together  with  our  keen  competition  for 
the  markets  of  the  world  for  our  export  trade, 
have  involved  us,  for  good  or  for  ill,  in  the 
intricacies  of  the  world's  diplomacy,  and  have 
expanded  the  scope  of  our  foreign  affairs. 

To  understand  and  administer  these  en- 
larged interests,  to  protect  our  rights,  and  at 


122  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  same  time  to  keep  clear  of  strained  and 
interrupted  relations  and  the  many  vexatious 
questions  which,  under  the  provocations  of 
home  politics  and  a  sensational  press,  may, 
even  when  least  expected,  bring  on  the  calami- 
ties of  war,  will  demand  the  highest  skill  of 
our  Department  of  State,  aided  by  the  trained 
knowledge  of  experienced  diplomatic  agents. 
It  is  especially  incumbent  upon  a  powerful  na- 
tion to  be  just.  It  can  best  afford  to  be  gen- 
erous. It  can  be  so  without  being  charged 
with  weakness.  It  must  often  be  firm  and  res- 
olute. Such  characteristics  are  as  effective 
internationally  as  inter-personally.  To  be 
this,  and  to  do  this,  we  must  concede  to  others 
the  same  rights  that  we  demand  for  ourselves, 
and  not  invite  quarrels  from  which  we  must 
often  retreat;  quarrels,  too,  which  are  most 
apt  to  arise  at  times  when  nations  are  most 
susceptible  to  irritation,  during  periods  of 
threatening  or  pending  revolution,  or  of  actual 
war;  when  the  obligations  of  neutrality  are 
difficult  to  maintain,  notwithstanding  the  most 
watchful  care  on  the  part  of  governments.        , 


vn 

OUR  DIPLOMACY  WITH  REFERENCE 
TO  OUR  DIPLOMATIC  AND  CON- 
SULAR SERVICE 


VII 

OUR   DIPLOMACY   WITH   EEFERENCE 
TO  OUR  DIPLOMATIC  AND  CON- 
SULAR SERVICE 

THE  dominant  purpose  of  the  first  period 
of  our  diplomacy,  extending  from  the  end 
of  the  Revolution  to  the  termination  of  the 
war  of  1812,  until  the  conclusion  of  the  Treaty 
of  Ghent  in  1814,  was  to  establish  by  treaties 
what  had  been  achieved  by  war,  to  obtain 
recognition  upon  equal  terms  in  the  family  of 
nations. 

That  of  the  second  period  was  to  safeguard 
our  political  existence  as  a  sovereign  and  in- 
dependent nation  on  the  American  continent 
from  threatened  aggressions  and  intervention 
on  the  part  of  European  powers.  This  period 
culminated  in  1823  by  the  promulgation  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine. 

The  third  period  extended  from  that  time 
until  the  end  of  our  Civil  War.    This  was  the 

125 


126  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

preservative  or  surgical  period  of  our  develop- 
ment, when  the  nation  submitted  to  the  blood- 
iest and  most  serious  operation  to  eradicate 
the  cancer  of  slavery  which  had  eaten  into  its 
very  vitals,  the  roots  of  which  extended  far 
into  the  colonial  times.  From  this  period  we 
became  more  assertive  of  our  rights  interna- 
tionally and  on  this  continent,  beginning  with 
our  demand  for  the  termination  of  Maximil- 
ian's rule  in  Mexico,  which  rested  on  French 
bayonets  for  its  support,  and  our  insistence 
upon  Great  Britain's  making  reparation  for 
her  violation  of  the  laws  of  neutrality  during 
our  Civil  War,  by  adjusting  the  ''Alabama" 
claims. 

The  next,  or  fifth  period  was  characterized 
by  a  policy  that  was  both  vigorous  and  aggres- 
sive, beginning  with  Cleveland's  Venezuelan 
message  and  ending  with  the  Spanish  War. 
We  have  now  arrived  at  an  offensive  as  dis- 
tinguished from  a  defensive  policy.  It  is  the 
commercial  stage,  whose  aim  it  is  to  reach  out 
for  our  share  of  the  world's  commerce,  to  se- 
cure an  open  door  with  European  nations  in 
Asiatic  countries  and  procure  equal  rights  and 
facilities  for  our  commerce  in  seeking  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world. 


OUR  DIPLOMACY  127 

This  diplomatic-commercial  stage  is  a  natu- 
ral development.  In  modern  times  it  was 
inaugurated  by  Holland,  subsequently  was 
vigorously  developed  with  army,  fleet,  and 
diplomacy  by  Great  Britain,  and  is  to-day 
pushed  forward  with  aggressive  vigor  by  Ger- 
many. This  stage  is  international  in  its  full- 
est application,  and  has  some  aspects  of  re- 
semblance to  the  earliest  stages  of  our  foreign 
policy,  in  that  it  is  commercial,  but  with  this 
difference — the  goal  is  beyond,  and  not  within, 
the  United  States.  In  the  first  stage  after  we 
had  achieved  our  independence  "there  existed 
at  that  time  in  Europe,"  as  Trescot  points 
out,^  "an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  immediate 
importance  of  American  commerce.  .  .  .  Situ- 
ated as  were  the  European  states,  they  were 
not  always  the  arbiters  of  their  own  interests ; 
and  there  existed  on  their  part  a  strong  dis- 
position to  apply  the  rule  of  their  own  conduct 
to  the  new  republic  and  compel  a  participa- 
tion in  a  common  fate."  The  purpose  of  our 
diplomacy  during  this  period  was  to  resist  this 
pretension;  and  it  was  in  part  accomplished 

1  "The  Diplomatic  History  of  the  Administrations  of 
Washington  and  Adams,"  by  William  Henry  Trescot  (1857), 
pp.  2,  4. 


128  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

by  our  first  treaties  with  England,  Spain,  and 
France,  and  more  perfectly  by  our  expansion 
diplomacy  through  the  purchase  of  Louisiana 
and  Florida,  and  subsequently  by  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas  and  the  purchase  of  Alaska.  A 
wide  difference,  however,  is  to  be  noted  be- 
tween our  expansion  policy  on  this  continent 
ending  with  the  Alaska  purchase  and  that 
which  has  since  taken  place  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  continent.  In  the  former  plan  of  ex- 
pansion the  purpose  was  to  free  ourselves  from 
European  interests  by  getting  rid  of  neighbor- 
ing and  contiguous  European  possessions: 
whereas  in  the  expansion  which  has  taken 
place  since  our  war  with  Spain,  especially  in 
the  acquisition  of  the  Philippines,  we  have  not 
only  assumed  new  and  most  troublesome  gov- 
ernmental problems  and  burdens,  but  have 
also  acquired  new  and  strange  neighbors.  We 
have  entered  into  the  arena  of  world  politics, 
and  have  departed  from  that  policj^  of  Amer- 
ican concentration  and  from  the  security  af- 
forded by  our  isolation  from  the  shifting  and 
perplexing  phases  of  Asiatic  and  European 
conflicts  and  wars. 

Aside,  however,  from  our  recent  territorial 
expansion  and  entirely  apart  from  it,  a  natural 


OUR  DIPLOMACY  129 

and  peaceful  expansion  has  taken  place,  due 
not  to  our  prowess  in  war,  but  to  our  natural 
advantages,  and  to  American  skill  and  enter- 
prise as  a  producing  and  manufacturing 
people.  This  is  an  aggressive  expansion ;  for 
we  go  out  to  meet  the  nations  of  the  world  in 
commercial  rivalry,  not  only  in  neutral  zones, 
but  also  in  their  home  markets.  We  are  be- 
ginning to  hear  more  and  more,  and  we  shall 
hear  more  and  more,  of  reciprocity  and  retali- 
ation and  commercial  union  on  the  part  of 
European  countries  against  us  or  rather 
against  our  export  products. 

Thus  far,  under  the  guidance  of  a  wise,  far- 
seeing,  and  tactful  diplomacy,  which  has  char- 
acterized the  administration  of  Secretary  Hay, 
we  have  won  signal  victories  and  open  doors 
in  a  true  spirit  of  amity  and  friendship.  But 
the  time  has  now  arrived  when,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  President  McKinley  in  his  last  mes- 
sage to  his  countrymen:  ''The  period  of  ex- 
clusiveness  is  past.  The  expansion  of  our 
trade  and  commerce  is  the  pressing  problem. 
Commercial  wars  are  unprofitable.  A  policy 
of  good  will  and  friendly  trade  relations  will 
prevent  reprisals.  Eeciprocity  treaties  are  in 
harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  times :  measures 


130  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

of  retaliation  are  not.  If,  perchance,  some  of 
our  tariffs  are  no  longer  needed  for  revenue 
or  to  encourage  and  protect  our  industries  at 
home,  why  should  they  not  be  employed  to  ex- 
tend and  promote  our  markets  abroad?" 

With  the  rapid  growth  of  our  foreign  com- 
merce due  to  many  causes,  the  country  is  held 
bound  and  suffering  by  the  narrow  views  and 
the  selfish  interests  which  lie  at  the  basis  of 
much  of  our  tariff  legislation;  and  we  shall 
probably  have  to  wait  for  better  legislation 
until  the  very  contingencies  happen  of  which 
President  McKinley  wisely  forewarned  us,  and 
which  it  was  his  purpose  to  forestall  and  pre- 
vent. It  is  one  thing  to  let  loose  the  greed 
and  selfishness  of  commercialism,  and  quite 
another  to  curb  its  powers  in  the  interest  of 
public  policy  and  national  honor. 

When  tariff  walls  are  too  high,  they  ob- 
struct egress  as  well  as  ingress.  Besides,  they 
become  the  bulwark  for  the  propagation  and 
multiplication  of  trusts  to  raise  prices,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  economical  combinations 
which  reduce  the  cost  of  production.  Aside 
from  this,  there  is  the  all-important  domestic 
problem,  the  basis  of  all  commerce — the  har- 
monious relations  between  capital  and  labor. 


OUR  DIPLOMACY  131 

or  between  employers  and  workmen.  The 
lack  of  that  harmony  in  Great  Britain  and  in 
other  countries  has  contributed  more  than  any 
other  cause  to  the  lessening  of  commercial 
prosperity.  The  phrase,  ''Trade  follows  the 
flag,"  is  attractive  on  the  stump,  but  in  the 
light  of  experience  it  is  false.  Trade  follows 
the  course  of  least  resistance.  The  obstacles 
may  be  natural,  as,  for  instance,  the  advan- 
tages one  country  possesses  over  other  coun- 
tries in  respect  to  raw  material,  facilities  for 
manufacture,  the  skill  and  intelligence  of  work- 
men, etc.  They  may  be  artificial,  as  in  the 
case  of  excessive  tariffs  or  the  lack  of 
banking  and  transportation  facilities,  or  of 
information  as  to  the  special  tastes  and  re- 
quirements of  the  importing  country.  Ex- 
perienced consuls,  familiar  with  the  trade  of 
the  country  and  districts  wherein  they  reside, 
are  the  official  commercial  pickets  and  out- 
posts, and  are  of  vast  advantage  in  directing 
the  channels  of  trade.  Rapidity  of  communi- 
cation brought  about  by  steam  navigation  and 
by  the  telegraph  have  increased  the  value  as 
well  as  the  scope  of  diplomatic  functions  and 
of  consular  relations  to  trade  expansion ;  and 
every  year  it  is  becoming  more  apparent  that 


132  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

we  must  systematize  our  foreign  service,  both 
diplomatic  and  consular,  upon  a  common-sense 
basis,  where  appointments  in  the  first  instance 
are  made  for  fitness,  and  not  for  favoritism, 
and  where  promotions  and  a  fixed  tenure  de- 
pendent upon  capacity  and  good  behavior  re- 
ward efficient  services.  Silas  Larrabee  says  in 
his  characteristic  phrasing:  ''Ameriky  is  up 
agin  one  of  them  things  they  call  dilemmies. 
We  call  ourselves  a  world  power:  we  act 
like  a  miser 'ble,  narrer-minded,  short-sighted, 
people.  If  we  're  goin'  to  keep  on  in  the  world- 
power  business,  hadn't  we  better  put  on  some 
world-power  clothes,  and  take  on  world-power 
ways?" 

The  evil  of  our  present  method,  or  rather 
lack  of  method,  of  appointment,  based  almost 
entirely  on  the  spoils  system,  is  less  apparent, 
in  the  very  nature  of  things,  when  one  party 
remains  in  power  for  several  successive  ad- 
ministrations than  when,  through  the  shifting 
of  home  politics,  administrations  alternate,  as 
was  the  case  between  1885  and  1897,  under 
the  successive  administrations  of  Presidents 
Cleveland,  Harrison,  Cleveland,  and  McKin- 
ley,  which  period  has  not  inaptly  been  termed 
the  ''transit  period,"  so  far  as  concerned  our 


OUE  DIPLOMACY  133 

foreign  service,  in  that  by  far  the  larger  num- 
ber of  our  foreign  officials,  constituting  our 
diplomatic  and  consular  officers,  were  going 
and  coming  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe, 
first  Republican  appointees  returning  and  the 
Democrats  taking  their  places,  then  the  Demo- 
crats returning  and  the  Republicans  taking 
their  places;  and  again  the  Republicans  re- 
turning and  the  Democrats  taking  their  places, 
and  finally,  the  Democrats  returning  and  the 
Republicans  taking  their  places.  It  was  not 
only  felt,  but  quite  openly  declared,  at  several 
foreign  capitals,  that  it  was  hardly  worth  while 
to  enter  into  any  serious  negotiations  with  us ; 
for  just  about  the  time  an  agreement  could  be 
reached  our  representative  would  be  recalled. 
At  other  capitals,  negotiations  that  were  not 
agreeable  to  the  government  to  which  our 
diplomatic  representatives  were  accredited 
were  purposely  protracted  with  the  expecta- 
tion, as  our  national  election  was  approaching, 
that  a  new  diplomatic  representative,  entirely 
unfamiliar  with  the  negotiations,  would  re- 
place the  former  one. 

I  know  it  has  been  argued,  and  with  some 
apparent  force,  that,  notwithstanding  the  spoils 
system,  our  diplomacy  has  been  in  the  main 


134  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

successful;  but  a  critical  examination  of  our 
successes  will  reveal  the  fact  that  even  our 
successes  are  arguments  for  a  trained  and 
fixed  service.  The  successes  that  distinguish 
the  first  period  of  our  history  were  achieved 
before  the  spoils  system  had  arisen,  during  the 
Confederation  and  under  the  administrations 
from  Washington  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  when 
our  best-trained  and  best-qualified  men  were 
sent  abroad,  irrespective  of  partizan  consider- 
ations. We  naturally  recall  the  names  of 
Franklin,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Jay,  Marshall, 
Livingston,  Monroe,  and  others,  whose  serv- 
ices in  behalf  of  our  country  are  recorded  in 
every  school  history.  But  even  during  this 
period  we  must  not  forget  that  Napoleon 
served  us  as  our  greatest  diplomat,  for,  as 
Trescot  says:  ''Thus  the  treaty  with  England 
has  yielded  to  the  necessities  of  the  conditions 
of  hostility  between  England  and  France ;  the 
treaty  with  Spain  was  the  result  of  the  changed 
attitude  of  that  power  toward  England  on  the 
one  side  and  France  on  the  other;  and  the 
treaty  with  France  depended  upon  the  special 
relation  which  France  at  the  moment  wished 
to  assume  for  her  own  purposes,  towards  the 
other  powers  of  Europe."     Other  notable  in- 


OUR  DIPLOMACY  135 

stances  during  later  periods  may  be  cited, 
when  there  was  immediate  and  pressing  need 
for  'Hhe  right  man  in  the  right  place,"  as 
was  the  case  when  Lincoln  sent  Charles  Fran- 
cis Adams  to  London  during  the  Civil  War. 
The  second  reason  for  our  diplomatic  suc- 
cesses, even  after  the  rise  and  growth  of  the 
spoils  system,  is  that  these  successes  in  the 
main  were  not  attained  by  our  diplomatic 
representatives  abroad,  but  because,  due  at 
times  perhaps  to  the  very  defects  of  our  sys- 
tem, the  negotiations  were  transferred  to 
Washington  and  conducted  by  the  Secretary 
of  State  in  person,  as  was  notably  the  case 
under  Secretaries  Webster,  Seward,  Fish,  and 
Hay. 

The  third  reason  for  our  diplomatic  suc- 
cesses, to  employ  a  Hibernicism,  is  that  they 
were  not  diplomatic  successes  at  all,  but  due  to 
another  important  branch  of  our  government, 
wherein  such  a  system  as  I  refer  to  obtains  in 
the  fullest  sense,  and  which  never  has  been  in- 
vaded by  the  spoils  system,  and  seldom  even 
by  favoritism:  I  refer  to  the  United  States 
Navy.  The  employment  of  the  navy  in  diplo- 
matic missions,  is,  to  say  the  least,  not  only 
very  expensive,  but  hazardous  and  grave  in  its 


136  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

possible  consequences.  "We  need  not  cite  the 
destruction  of  the  Maine  in  the  harbor  of 
Havana  as  an  illustration  of  sending  men-of- 
war  on  such  errands,  which  missions,  even  in 
times  of  irritated  relations,  are  euphemistic- 
ally designated  ''to  keep  up  the  usual  courte- 
sies of  friendly  intercourse." 

That  the  navy  sent  on  diplomatic  missions 
has  time  and  again  in  our  history  achieved 
signal  successes  is  largely  due,  aside  from  the 
effective  argument  of  force,  to  the  fact  that 
our  commanders,  commodores,  and  admirals 
grew  up  in  the  service  for  which  they  were 
specially  trained,  and  were  frequently  better 
trained  even  in  international  law  and  in  diplo- 
macy than  our  diplomatic  representatives.  In 
naval  diplomacy  we  naturally  recall  Commo- 
dore Decatur's  negotiations  with  the  Barbary 
States,  and  Commodore  Perry's  success  in  ne- 
gotiating our  first  treaty  of  amity  and  com- 
merce with  Japan,  and  Admiral  Shufeldt,  who 
negotiated  our  first  treaty  with  Corea.  The 
most  notable  diplomatic  success  achieved  by 
us  during  the  last  half-century  was  the  treaty 
of  Washington  (May  8,  1671)  for  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  "Alabama"  claims  and  all  the 
other  unsettled  questions  between  our  govern- 


OUE  DIPLOMACY  137 

ment  and  Great  Britain.  Besides  providing 
for  the  settlement  of  claims  growing  out  of 
Great  Britain's  breach  of  neutrality  during  the 
Civil  War,  and  laying  down  three  most  im- 
portant rules  of  neutrality,  it  created  "the 
most  important  arbitration  in  which  the 
United  States  ever  engaged,  the  most  august 
and  impressive  ever  held  in  the  world,  and  the 
most  lasting  in  its  influence  on  other  na- 
tions. "^  The  negotiations  which  ultimately 
resulted  in  success,  after  the  failure  of  the 
Johnson-Clarendon  treaty  and  the  recall  of 
Minister  Motley,  were  conducted  in  Washing- 
ton under  the  immediate  guidance  of  Secretary 
Fish,  and  under  the  policy  approved  as  it  pro- 
gressed by  President  Grant.  The  interesting 
details  leading  up  to  these  negotiations,  the 
divergent  views  and  conflicts  between  Mr. 
Sumner,  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Senate,  and  the  admin- 
istration, have  recently  had  new  light  thrown 
upon  them  by  Charles  Francis  Adams  in  his 
learned  address  before  the  New  York  Histori- 
cal Society.^ 

2  Foster's  "Century  of  American  Diplomacy,"  p.  424. 

3  "Before  and  after  the  Treaty  of  Washington:  The  Ameri- 
can Civil  War  and  the  War  in  the  Transvaal,"  Charles 
Francis  Adams  (1902). 


138  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

The  Court  of  Arbitration  provided  for  by 
the  treaty  convened  in  Geneva  on  December 
15, 1871.  Count  Sclopis,  who  was  unanimously 
chosen  president  of  the  tribunal,  addressing  his 
colleagues,  congratulated  them  on  the  felici- 
tous occasion  upon  which  they  were  for  the 
first  time  engaged  in  applying  the  austere  and 
calm  rules  of  law  to  the  solution  of  burning 
questions.  He  said  ''the  meeting  of  this  arbi- 
tration signalizes  a  new  policy,  which  was 
henceforth  to  govern  the  dealings  of  civilized 
nations,  that  the  United  States  and  the  United 
Kingdom  were  giving  an  example  to  other  na- 
tions which  would  be  prolific  of  best  results." 

There  are  other  reasons,  besides  those  men- 
tioned, why  important  negotiations  affecting 
our  country,  even  under  the  most  approved 
diplomatic  service,  must  necessarily  be  trans- 
ferred to  Washington.  Because  under  the 
Constitution  a  two-third  vote  of  the  Senate  is 
required  for  the  ratification  of  a  treaty,  in  or- 
der to  insure  favorable  action  by  this  co- 
ordinate branch  of  the  treaty-making  power  of 
our  government,  it  frequently  becomes  expedi- 
ent for  the  Executive,  through  the  Secretary 
of  State  or  directly,  to  confer  with  the  Senate 
during    the    pendency    of   negotiations.     The 


OUR  DIPLOMACY  139 

most  recent  example  of  the  expediency  of  such 
a  course  arose  in  the  case  of  the  first  Hay- 
Pauncefote  treaty,  which  failed  of  ratification 
by  reason  of  various  amendments ;  and  the  suc- 
cess which  attended  the  second  treaty,  which 
had  been  framed  after  consultation  with  the 
leading  senators,  and  was  promptly  ratified. 
It  often  requires  as  much,  if  not  more,  diplo- 
macy on  the  part  of  the  President  and  Secre- 
tary  of  State  to  secure  the  cooperation  of  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  in  the  Senate 
than  to  perfect  negotiations  with  the  foreign 
state.  Senator  Lodge,  in  a  learned  article, 
"The  Treaty-making  Powers  of  the  Senate,"  * 
summarizes  sixty-eight  treaties  which  have 
been  amended  by  the  Senate,  and  afterward 
ratified;  but  what  number  have  been  nego- 
tiated and  not  ratified  is  not  stated.  The  lat- 
ter class  is  large,  and  represents,  doubtless, 
as  much  diplomatic  ability  and  skill  on  the  part 
of  our  various  Secretaries  of  State  and  of  our 
ministers  at  foreign  courts  as  those  which 
were  ratified.  The  discussion  of  the  merits  of 
such  treaties,  and  the  reasons  that  contributed 
to  their  rejection,  would  disclose  additional 
and  striking  reasons  for  the  removal  of  our 

*  Scrihner's  Magazine,  January,  1902. 


140  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

foreign  service  beyond  the  shifting  phases  of 
politics.  Under  our  present  system,  when  the 
executive  branch  of  the  government  and  the 
Senate  are  not  in  harmony,  or,  it  may  be,  when 
the  President  and  the  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Senate  are 
not  in  accord,  the  treaty-making  powers  of  the 
government  are  suspended.  This  was  the 
case  under  President  Grant's  first  administra- 
tion, when  the  Senate,  under  the  lead  of  Sena- 
tor Sumner,  rejected  the  treaty  for  the  an- 
nexation of  Santo  Domingo  as  well  as  the 
Johnson-Clarendon  treaty;  and  it  was  also  the 
case  in  a  degree  under  both  the  Cleveland  ad- 
ministrations. For  it  must  be  remembered  it 
only  requires  a  one-third  vote  in  the  Senate  to 
defeat  a  treaty;  and,  when  personal  jeal- 
ousies and  animosities  are  added  to  party  divi- 
sions, these  can  readily  array  in  opposition  the 
required  one-third  vote  and  suspend  the 
treaty-making  power.  The  fact  that,  for 
reasons  growing  out  of  our  federated  system, 
our  Constitution  makes  the  Senate  a  coordi- 
nate member  with  the  Executive  in  treaty- 
making  is  an  added  reason  why  our  diplomatic 
service  should  be  placed  beyond  partizan  con- 
trol, on  the  same  footing  with  our  naval  and 


OUR  DIPLOMACY  141 

military  service  as  to  tenure.  In  all  govern- 
ments the  legislative  branch  reflects  popular 
excitement  and  passion.  That  such  is  the  case 
in  legislation  and  in  matters  affecting  internal 
affairs  is  to  be  deprecated,  but  often  it  is  un- 
avoidable; and  when  these  violent  and  tem- 
porary agitations  are  projected  into  our  for- 
eign relations,  it  is  particularly  unfortunate. 
At  times  the  situation  becomes  critical,  when 
with  a  change  of  administration  it  leads  to  the 
recall  of  our  diplomatic  representative  and  re- 
placing him  by  a  new  man  lacking  both  diplo- 
matic experience  and  acquaintance  with  the 
officials  and  the  internal  affairs  of  the  govern- 
ment to  which  he  is  accredited.  This  is  pre- 
cisely what  has  happened  on  more  than  one 
occasion,  just  at  the  time  when  the  relations  of 
the  two  countries  were  most  strained,  and 
when  trained  experience,  which  is  always  de- 
sirable, would  have  been  of  special  value. 
That  this  at  times  might  happen  under  a  regu- 
lated diplomatic  system  is  true;  but,  instead 
of  being  the  rule,  it  would  be  the  exception, 
and  then  only  for  good  cause,  and  not  as  now 
almost  always  without  cause. 

That  we  have  in  this  country  so  long  de- 
layed in  taking  our  foreign  service  out  of  poli- 


144  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

capitals  other  than  the  one  where  the  negotia- 
tions are  pending.  The  British  Foreign  Of- 
fice does  this  by  a  system  of  blue-prints,  or 
confidentially  printed  sheets  set  up  in  the  For- 
eign Office,  and  regularly  forwarded  to  its 
heads  of  missions  throughout  the  world. 
This  is  at  most  only  a  detail,  but,  from  my 
limited  experience,  it  appears  none  the  less 
important. 

Another  suggestion  I  would  make  is  that 
we  should  adopt  the  system  of  commercial 
attaches — that  is,  commercial  experts  attached 
to  our  principal  diplomatic  posts — to  study 
and  report  upon  the  industrial  development 
and  commercial  trend  of  affairs  in  foreign 
countries.  It  is  true,  we  have  an  excellent  sys- 
tem of  consular  reports;  and  they  are  very 
helpful.  These  should  be  continued,  and 
should  supplement  the  investigations  by  the 
commercial  attaches,  who  should  invariably  be 
high-class  experts.  But,  so  long  as  the  spoils 
system  dominates,  we  could  not  hope  that  they 
would  escape  the  defects  of  partizan  appoint- 
ment and  uncertain  tenure. 

General  Boulanger,  who  was  sent  here  to 
represent  the  French  army  and  government 
during  our  Yorktown  celebration  in  1876,  told 


OUR  DIPLOMACY  145 

me  he  was  invited  to  visit  our  fortifications. 
While  in  California,  General  Sherman  showed 
him  some  of  our  fortifications  on  that  coast, 
and  asked  the  general  what  he   thought  of 
them.    Boulanger  said  he  found  the  fortifica- 
tions very  antiquated,  but  that  he  replied  to 
General  Sherman  they  were  the  best  in  the 
world,  because,  he  added,  no  country  has  such 
magnificent  ditches  as  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pa- 
cific.   I  am  not  competent  to  pass  an  opinion 
whether  our  fortifications  are  still  antiquated; 
but  I  do  know  that  peaceful  arm  of  our  gov- 
ernment, the  diplomatic  and  consular  system, 
which  often  serves  as  do  the  ditches,  and  as 
a  guard  against  making  enemies,  is  antiquated 
and  badly  needs  modernizing,  and  that  this 
can  be  done  with  little  or  no  added  expendi- 
ture. 

In  concluding  these  observations  on  our 
diplomacy,  which,  from  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
ject, had  to  be  desultory,  I  will  quote  from  that 
distinguished  authority  on  international  law. 
Professor  John  B.  Moore.  He  says:  *'With 
the  growth  of  power  and  the  extension  of  boun- 
daries  there  has  come  an  increase  of  national 
responsibilities.  ...  It  remains  for  us  to 
carry  forward,  as  our  predecessors  have  car- 


146  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ried  forward,  the  great  work  thus  begun,  so 
that  at  the  close  of  another  century  the  cause 
of  free  government,  free  commerce,  and  free 
seas,  may  still  find  in  the  United  States  a 
champion, ' '  ^ 

5  "A   Hundred   Years  of   American  Diplomacy,"  by   John 
Bassett  Moore  (1900). 


VIII 
THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA 


vni 

THE  UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA 

NAPOLEON  said:  ''History  is  a  fiction 
agreed  upon."  This  definition  is  more 
applicable  to  diplomatic  history  than  to  any 
branch  of  the  science,  for  the  reason  that  di- 
plomacy has  so  many  undercurrents  whose 
sources  are  concealed  from  the  public  eye.  It 
is  doubtless  due  to  the  Machiavellian  spirit 
which  guided  the  diplomacy  of  nations  for  so 
many  years  that,  even  in  the  most  authorita- 
tive histories,  we  so  often  find  the  accounts  of 
diplomatic  relations  given,  not  as  they  were, 
but  as  the  adroit  schemers  intended  they 
should  appear. 

The  Kishinef  massacres  in  April,  1903, 
caused  a  mighty  storm  of  protest  in  this  coun- 
try. The  protests  voiced  by  pulpit,  press  and 
mass  meetings,  were  resented  by  the  Russian 
Ambassador  at  Washington  and  by  the  official 
classes  in  St.  Petersburg,  on  the  plea  that  the 
United  States  was  under  repeated  obligations 

149 


150  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

of  gratitude  to  Russia  because  of  her  "tradi- 
tional friendship"  for  us,  from  the  very  begin- 
ning of  our  national  history  until  the  present 
time.  Many  articles  appeared  in  the  daily  pa- 
pers referring  to  this  ''traditional  friendship," 
and  urging  that  the  American  public  should  at 
least  refrain  from  siding  with  the  enemies  of 
Russia,  however  appalling  might  be  the  rule 
of  the  Russian  bureaucracy.  An  article  ap- 
peared in  the  principal  Russian  paper  of  St. 
Petersburg,  the  Novoe  Vremya,  headed  "Rus- 
sia in  America,"  translated  as  follows: 

The  United  States  from  time  to  time  enters  the 
arena  of  anti-Russian  propaganda,  which  find  favor- 
able soil  in  its  politically  unripe  population,  with- 
out government  traditions,  and  carried  away  by  the 
successes  of  its  new  imperialistic  policy.  The  Si- 
berian prisons,  the  Manchurian  open  door,  the 
Kishineff  disorders — all  these  serve  as  pretexts  for 
the  anti-Russian  meetings  so  advantageous  to  Rus- 
sia's enemies,  while  Secretary  Hay's  stubborn 
Anglophilism  lends  governmental  importance  to  the 
claims  of  the  various  groups  of  American  traders 
and  missionaries  in  the  Far  East  .  .  .  The  Russian 
Foreign  Office  should  publish  in  English  a  sketch 
of  the  relations  between  the  Russian  and  American 
governments,  beginning  with  the  time  of  Catharine 
and  ending  with  the  Spanish-American  war. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA    151 

When  the  Monarch  was  the  State,  and  when 
the  Monarch's  attachments,  antagonisms  or 
desire  for  revenge  were  the  controlling  fac- 
tors in  international  relations,  the  ruler's  com- 
mands were  supreme,  and  the  national  con- 
science had  to  bend  to  his  will.  But,  even  if 
the  traditional  Russian  claim  upon  the  grati- 
tude of  the  United  States  were  well  founded, 
the  enlightened  spirit  of  our  age  could  not 
recognize  that  as  a  plea  in  bar  against  our  con- 
demnation of  shocking  wrongs,  or  against  our 
withholding  our  sympathies  for  the  oppressed. 

International  relations  among  the  modern 
states  are  primarily  based,  not  upon  sentiment 
or  gratitude,  but  upon  self-interests,  modified 
by  a  sense  of  justice  and  right.  However,  we 
are  not  here  concerned  with  speculations,  but 
with  historical  facts.  Let  us  see  what  these 
facts  are. 

Under  Catharine  II,  a  scheme  was  formed  in 
1779,  when  we  were  in  the  most  trying  period 
of  our  Revolution,  for  Russia's  giving  George 
III  effective  assistance  against  us,  on  condi- 
tion that  the  English  should  aid  Russia  in  re- 
newed attacks  upon  the  Turks.  A  part  of  this 
program  was,  that  the  Island  of  Minorca 
was  to  be  ceded  by  England  to  Russia  as  a 


152  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

station  for  the  Russian  fleet  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  as  a  rendezvous  for  the  insurgent 
Greeks.  This  project  was  drawn  up  by  Cath- 
arine's chief  adviser,  Count  Potemkin,  for 
presentation  to  the  British  Ambassador  at 
St.  Petersburg;  but,  through  the  adroitness  of 
Count  Panin,  Catharine's  Minister  for  For- 
eign Affairs,  who  favored  the  French  interest 
as  against  the  English,  the  scheme  fell  through, 
thereby  causing  the  Empress  to  adopt  the  anti- 
British  policy  of  armed  neutrality.  The  na- 
ture of  Russia's  friendship  for  us  at  this 
period,  when  we  were  most  in  need  of  the 
friendly  offices  of  foreign  nations,  is  disclosed 
by  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  was  then  in  Paris 
as  one  of  our  Commissioners  to  negotiate 
peace  with  Great  Britain.  He  describes  with 
what  friendly  satisfaction  Russia  had  learned 
of  the  recognition  of  our  independence  by  the 
States  General  of  Holland.  I  quote  from  his 
journal :  ^ 

"This  day"  [June  9,  1782]  "I  received  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Dana  dated  at  St.  Petersburg,  April  29th, 
in  which  is  the  following  passage:  *We  yesterday 
received  the  news  that  the  States  General,  on  the 
19th  of  this  month,  acknowledged  the  independence 

1  Franklin's  Works,  edited  by  Bigelow,  Vol.  8,  p.  89. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA    153 

of  the  United  States.  This  event  gave  a  shock  here, 
and  is  not  well  received,  as  they  at  least  professed 
to  have  flattered  themselves  that  mediation  would 
have  prevented  it,  and  otherwise  brought  on  a  par- 
tial peace  between  Britain  and  Holland.'  " 

Mr.  Francis  Dana,  afterward  Chief  Justice 
of  Massachusetts,  was  at  this  time  our  ac- 
credited Minister  to  Russia.  He  remained 
there  about  two  years  asking  to  be  recognized ; 
but  Russia  refused  to  receive  him  or  to  recog- 
nize the  independence  of  our  country,  and  this, 
too,  although  the  preliminaries  of  peace  had 
been  signed  nine  months  before.  At  last 
Dana,  in  September,  1783,  being  unsuccessful 
in  his  efforts  to  secure  recognition,  or  to  have 
Russia  recognize  the  independence  of  our  coun- 
try, obtained  permission  from  Congress  to  re- 
turn bome. 

Some  years  ago,  when  Eugene  Schuyler  was 
Secretary  of  Legation  at  St.  Petersburg,  he 
made  some  investigation  for  George  Bancroft, 
the  historian,  and  copied  and  translated  some 
of  the  diplomatic  correspondence  under  the 
reign  of  Catharine  11.^  At  this  time  Count 
Osterman   was   Vice-Chancellor,    and   Prince 

2  See  Bancroft  papers,  America,  Russia  and  England,  Vol. 
2,  Lenox  Library. 


154  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

Demetri  Gallitzin  was  Russian  Ambassador  at 
the  Hague.  Information  reached  St.  Peters- 
burg from  the  Russian  Ambassador  that  Mr. 
Adams  had  been  received  as  United  States 
Minister.  The  Vice-Chancellor  writes  to  the 
Ambassador  (May  6,  1782) : 

Now  that  their  High  Mightinesses  have  pro- 
ceeded to  the  formal  recognition  of  Mr.  Adams  aa 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States,  I 
must  instruct  you  that  Her  Imperial  Highness  does 
not  wish  any  demonstration  on  your  part  that  can 
lead  to  the  presumption  that  she  approves  of  this 
step.  You  must  then  abstain  from  receiving  or 
paying  visits  either  to  Mr.  Adams,  or  to  any  other 
person  accredited  from  the  Colonies  which  are  sepa- 
rating from  Great  Britain. 

As  a  further  evidence  of  Catharine 's  feeling 
toward  America,  I  will  cite  the  following: 
About  this  time  a  portrait  of  Washington  was 
sent  from  the  Hague  in  the  Russian  despatch- 
bag  to  Francis  Dana,  who  was  then  at  St. 
Petersburg,  doubtless  as  a  courtesy  to  Mr. 
Adams.  On  the  receipt  of  the  bag  at  the  Rus- 
sian Foreign  Office,  Count  Osterman  returned 
the  portrait  to  Prince  Gallitzin,  the  Ambassa- 
dor at  the  Hague,  with  a  sharp  letter  in  which 
he  says:  "With  your  despatch  came  a  portrait 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA     155 

of  Washington  to  be  delivered  to  one  Dana,  an 
American  gentleman  here;  but  as  this  man  is 
not  known  to  Her  Imperial  Majesty  or  Her 
ministry,  you  are  commanded  by  Her  Majesty 
to  return  it  to  the  source  from  which  it  reached 
the  courier,  together  with  documents  accom- 
panying it." 

From  the  same  source  we  learn  that,  on 
May  15,  1780,  Sir  James  Harris,  British  Am- 
bassador at  St.  Petersburg,  writing  to  Vis- 
count Stormont,  the  British  Secretary  of  State, 
after  referring  to  an  interview  he  had  with 
Prince  Potemkin,  declared  that  the  Prince  sug- 
gested that  the  Secretary  of  State  should  ask 
the  Empress  to  mediate  between  Great  Britain 
and  her  enemies,  and  acquaint  her  ''with  the 
terms  on  which  you  wish  for  an  accommoda- 
tion for  America  .  .  .  and  you  may  depend 
not  only  on  her  not  betraying  you,  but  be  al- 
most certain  that  she  will  begin  by  being  your 
mediator,  and,  if  she  does  not  succeed,  end  by 
being  your  ally. ' '  ^  This  throws  a  direct  light 
upon  the  motives  underlying  Catharine's  de- 
sire to  become  a  mediator,  which  has  been 
made  much  of  even  by  some  American  histor- 

3  Bancroft  papers,  Vol.  2. 


156  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ians.    Jolin  Fiske,  in  his  ''American  Revolu- 
tion, ' '  says : 

At   the    beginning    of   1778    Sir   James   Harris, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Malmesbury,  was  sent  as  Am- 
bassador  to    St.    Petersburg,   with    instructions   to 
leave  no  stone  unturned  to  secure  an  offensive  and 
defensive  alliance  between  Russia  and  Great  Brit- 
ain, in  order  to  offset  and  neutralize  the  alliance 
between  France  and  the  United   States.     Negotia- 
tions to  this  end  were  kept  up  as  long  as  the  war 
lasted,  but  they  proved  fruitless.     While  Catharine 
coquetted  and  temporized,  the  Prussian  Ambassa- 
dor had  her  ear.  .  .  .     The  weight  of  France  was,  of 
course,  throA\Ti  into  the  same  scale,  and  for  four 
years  the  Russian  Court  was  the  scene  of  brisk  and 
multifarious  intrigues.  .  .  .     From  Prince  Potemkin, 
one    of    Catharine's    lovers,    whose    favor    Harris 
courted,  he  learned  that  nothing  short  of  the  cession 
of  Minorca  would  induce  the  Empress  to  enter  into 
this   desired   alliance.     Russia  was   already  taking 
advantage  of  the  situation  to  overrun  and  annex  the 
Crimea;  and  the  maritime  outlook,  thus  acquired, 
made  her  eager  to  secure  some  naval  station  on  the 
Mediterranean.     Minorca    was    England's    to    give. 
...     It  was  not,  however,  until  1781  that  the  offer 
of  Minorca  was  made,  and  then  Catharine  had  so 
far  acceded  to  the  general  combination  against  Eng- 
land that  she  could  not  but  refuse  it.* 

4  John    Fiske,   "The   American    Revolution,"    1897,    Vol.   2, 
p.    143.     W.   Eton,   in  "A   Survey  of  the   Turkish   Empire" 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA     157 

Before  this  time,  in  1776,  as  very  close 
relations  existed  between  Great  Britain  and 
Russia,  it  was  much  feared  that  Great  Britain 
would  be  able  to  draw  troops  from  Russia  to 
serve  against  the  Colonies.  That  there  was 
ground  for  this  fear  is  evidenced  by  a  resolu- 
tion, passed  by  the  Continental  Congress 
(December  30,  1776),  instructing  our  commis- 
sioners in  Europe  to  guard  against  this  con- 
tingency.   The  resolution  is  as  follows: 

That  the  commissioners  be  respectively  directed 
to  use  every  means  in  their  power  .  .  .  for  prevent- 
ing German,  Russian  and  other  foreign  troops  from 
being  sent  to  America  for  hostile  purposes.^ 

General  Sir  William  Howe  wrote  from  New 
York  (November  30,  1776)  to  Lord  George 
Germain  that  a  reenforcement  of  15,000 
troops  was  needed,  ''which  I  hope  may  be  had 
from  Russia,  or  from  Hanover,  or  from  other 
German  States."^ 

Theodore   Lyman,   the   best   of   our   early 

(London,  1798),  says:  "The  Empress,  and  particularly  Po- 
temkin,  were  very  anxious  to  obtain  from  His  Majesty  a 
cession  of  the  Island  of  Minorca,  which  was  intended  as  a 
station  for  her  fleet,  and  a  rendezvous  for  the  Greeks,"  p. 
423.  See  also  Diaries  and  Correspondence  of  Sir  James 
Harris,  First  Earl  of  Malmesbury,  Vol.  1,  pp.  345,  359,  363. 

5  American  Archives,  fourth  series,  Vol.  3,  p.  1617. 

6  Ibid.,  p.  926. 


158  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

writers  on  our  diplomacy,  says  in  reference  to 
Dana's  mission  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  the  re- 
fusal of  the  Empress  to  recognize  him,  that  the 
conditions  upon  which  she  undertook  to  re- 
ceive Dana  were  more  severe  than  England 
herself  exacted: 

They  amounted  to  this:  "Strike  off  seven  years 
of  your  independence;  confess  that  you  owe  your 
independence  to  the  EngHsh  acknowledgment;  an- 
nul all  acts  of  sovereignty  prior  to  that  time — all 
Commissioners  and  Ministers — treaties  with  France 
and  Holland ;  and  then  you  will  be  in  a  condition  to 
present  yourself  at  the  Court  of  St.  Petersburg. ' '  ^ 

The  Continental  Congress,  in  sending  Dana 
to  St.  Petersburg,  hoped  to  enter  into  the 
armed  neutrality  which  Russia  was  organiz- 
ing; but,  as  Dana  was  absolutely  ignored.  Con- 
gress, in  May,  1783,  adopted  a  resolution  to 
the  effect  that,  though  it  approved  the  princi- 
ples of  armed  neutrality  founded  on  the  liberal 
basis  of  a  maintenance  of  the  rights  of  neutral 
nations  and  of  the  privileges  of  commerce,  yet 
they  are  unwilling  at  this  juncture  to  become 
a  party  to  a  Confederacy  which  may  here- 
after too  far  complicate  the  interests  of  the 
United   States   with   the   politics   of   Europe. 

7  "Diplomacy  of  the  United  States,"  by  Theodore  Lyman, 
Jr.,  Vol,  1. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA     159 

This  resolution  is  in  reality  the  foundation  of 
the  policy  which  has  controlled  the  foreign 
relations  of  the  United  States,  and  it  was 
subsequently  formulated  by  "Washington  in 
the  language  so  familiar  to  American  ears, 
''Friendly  relations  with  all,  entangling  alli- 
ances with  none. ' '  As  Lyman  says,  this  is  the 
only  instance  in  the  history  of  the  country  in 
which  the  United  States  volunteered,  them- 
selves, to  become  a  party  to  a  league  of  sover- 
eigns in  Europe.  While  the  principles  adopted 
by  the  Northern  Confederacy  were  exceedingly 
grateful  to  the  American  government,  and  a 
proposal  to  join  it  was  considered  an  effectual 
mode  of  hastening  the  acknowledgment  of  in- 
dependence, in  reality  it  was  fortunate  that 
Dana  did  not  succeed  in  his  mission.  Francis 
Wharton,  editor  of  the  Diplomatic  Revolu- 
tionary Correspondence,  concludes:  ''That 
Catharine  was  resolutely  averse  to  the  Ameri- 
can cause  until  after  the  definitive  peace,  there 
is  now  no  question."^ 

Reference  is  frequently  made  to  the  Russian 
offer  of  mediation  in  1813  to  procure  a  peace 

8  See  "Revolutionary  Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the 
United  States,"  edited,  under  the  direction  of  Congress,  by 
Francis  Wharton  (Government  Printing  Office),  Vol.  6,  pp. 
213,  425;  Vol.  1,  p.  265,  etc. 


160  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
and  this  incident  is  cited  as  a  proof  of  Rus- 
sia,'s  friendly  interest  in  the  welfare  of  our 
country.  It  must  be  remembered,  however, 
that  at  that  time  she  was  closely  leagued  with 
England  in  the  sixth  celebrated  coalition 
against  France.  The  trade  of  the  Baltic  was 
greatly  embarrassed,  and  the  Russian  Em- 
peror looked  upon  this  war  with  great  regret 
as  opposing  the  commercial  prosperity  of  the 
Russian  nation.  M.  Daschkoff,  the  Russian 
Minister,  said: 

The  peace  of  Russia  with  England  seemed  to 
present  this  immense  advantage  to  the  commerce  of 
nearly  all  seafaring  people,  that  it  freed  their  rela- 
tions from  that  constraint,  from  that  continual  vexa- 
tion to  which  it  had  been  subjected  for  many  years 
without  interruption.^ 

The  mediation  was  declined  by  Great  Brit- 
ain. Russia  was  at  that  time  in  alliance  with 
England,  her  interests  were  to  do  all  in  her 
power  to  bring  about  peace  for  the  benefit  of 
her  commerce.  In  view  of  these  facts,  it  can 
hardly  be  held  that  she  was  actuated  by  the 
spirit  of  friendship  for  the  United  States  in 
her  desire  to  become  mediator.     On  the  con- 

»  Lyman's  Diplomacy,  Vol.  1,  p.  436. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA    161 

trary,  the  real  explanation  of  her  friendly  in- 
terest lies  in  the  fact  that,  Alexander  being 
at  that  time  in  alliance  with  England  to  coun- 
teract the  power  of  Napoleon,  and  fearing  an 
attack  from  him,  Eussia  naturally  desired  that 
her  ally,  England,  should  be  freed  as  speedily 
as  possible  from  the  American  war,  so  that  she 
might  give  her  aid  to  Eussia  in  repelling  Na- 
poleon. This  view  of  Eussia 's  interest  was 
confirmed  by  Eobert  Goodloe  Harper,  United 
States  Senator  from  Maryland,  in  his  speech 
in  Philadelphia  in  1813.     He  said : 

England  and  Russia  therefore  stood  alone. 
England  could  spare  nothing  for  the  direct  assist- 
ance of  Russia  except  the  cooperation  of  a  fleet  in 
the  Baltic.  Such  was  the  situation  of  Europe  about 
the  moment  of  attack;  and  the  war  which,  at  the 
same  moment,  was  declared  by  the  United  States 
against  England  was  so  timed,  whatever  might  have 
been  the  intention  of  the  authors,  as  to  have  the 
effect  of  direct  and  not  inconsiderable  coopera- 
tion with  France.  .  .  .  This  was  a  great  loss  to 
Russia.^* 

Frequent  reference  is  made  to  Eussia's 
friendly  attitude  to  us  during  the  Civil  War, 
and  to  her  sending  several  war-ships  to  the 

10  Harper's  Speech.  Pamphlet — Commemoration  of  Ru3- 
Bian  Victories  (Philadelphia,  1813). 


162  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

Atlantic  and  to  the  Pacific  with  "sealed  in- 
structions. ' '    Much  has  been  made  of  this,  but, 
even  if  such  instructions  existed,  is  there  any 
basis  for  the  conclusion  that  they  were  for  any 
other  purpose  than  to  offset  England— in  other 
words,  that  her  actions  toward  us  even  during 
the  Civil  War,  were  but  moves  made  by  her 
upon  the  chessboard  of  European  diplomacy? 
This  is  borne  out  by  Gideon  Welles,  who  re- 
cords in  his  Diary   (I,  480):  "The  Russian 
Government  has  thought  proper  to   send  its 
fleet  in  American  waters  for  the  winter.     A 
number  of  their  vessels  arrived  at  the  Atlan- 
tic seaboard  some  weeks  since,  and  others  in 
the  Pacific  have  reached  San  Francisco.    It 
is  a  politic  move  for  both  Russians  and  Amer- 
icans and  is  somewhat  annoying  to  France 
and  England." 

A  recent  writer,  referring  to  this,  says  that 
Prince  Gortchakoff,  Chancellor  of  the  Empire, 
had  demanded  from  the  signatory  powers  of 
the  Treaty  of  Paris  (1856)  the  abrogation  of 
the  clause  of  the  Treaty  which  prohibited  Rus- 
sia from  maintaining  an  armed  na\^  in  the 
Black  Sea.  England  and  France  strongly  op- 
posed this.  The  Chancellor,  in  reply,  sent 
what  came  very  near  to  being  an  ultimatum, 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA    163 

and  fearing  that  this  act  would  be  followed  by 
hostilities,  despatched  a  portion  of  his  fleet 
into  neutral  waters,  so  that  it  would  not  be 
bottled  up  for  destruction,  as  had  once  been 
the  case  when  Russia's  fleet  was  in  the  harbor 
of  Sebastopol.  This  same  writer  declares  that 
Russia  at  that  time  was  without  an  ally  in 
Europe;  that  Nihilism  was  rampant;  that  the 
nobility  was  secretly  plotting  against  the  life 
and  throne  of  the  Tsar ;  and  that  the  fleet  was 
sent  to  the  American  waters  for  its  own  pro- 
tection, and  not  for  the  benefit  of  the  United 
States.^^  Be  that  as  it  may,  why  was  the 
knowledge  of  the  existence  of  such  instruc- 
tions kept  from  our  Government,  and  why  do 
not  the  records  disclose,  as  would  be  natural 
under  such  circumstances,  what  those  mysteri- 
ous ''sealed  instructions"  were,  and  what 
purpose  the  ships  were  to  serve?  That  Rus- 
sia was  our  friend  during  the  Civil  War,  in  the 
same  way  that  almost  all  other  European  pow- 
ers were  our  friends,  is  true.  Turkey  was 
among  the  first  of  the  powers  to  show  positive 
friendship  for  us  during  the  Civil  War.     She 

11  Pamphlet — "A  Brief  Review  of  Russia's  Relations  with 
America,"  by  a  Russian- American  Diplomat  (Washington, 
1903). 


164  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

interdicted  pirates  in  the  service  of  tlie  Con- 
federacy, making  depredations  upon  the  com- 
merce of  our  country,  from  entering  the  ports 
of  the  Turkish  Empire.  This  was  recognized 
by  Secretary  Seward  in  his  despatch  to  E. 
Joy  Morris,  then  our  Minister  to  Turkey  when 
on  June  2,  1862,  he  wrote: 

The  President  received  with  profound  satisfac- 
tion the  decree  of  His  Majesty  the  Sultan  interdict- 
ing the  entrance  of  pirates  engaged  in  depredating 
upon  our  commerce  into  the  ports  of  Turkey.  .  .  . 
Nor  is  the  proceeding  any  the  lees  entitled  to  our 
grateful  acknowledgments  because  the  piratical  op- 
erations of  the  insurgents,  such  as  they  have  been, 
have  already  been  brought  to  an  end.  It  will,  on 
the  contrary,  be  to  the  honor  of  the  Sultan  that  he 
took  the  lead  in  conceding  to  the  United  States 
rights  which  it  is  now  expected  will  soon  be  con- 
ceded by  all  the  other  maritime  powers  .  .  .  The 
Turkish  Government  has  been  singularly  just  and 
liberal  towards  us  in  this  emergency. 

That  the  Russian  squadron  came  here  in 
1863  on  a  mission  to  aid  the  United  States  is 
both  an  afterthought  and  a  myth.  If  the 
squadron  had  come  here  upon  any  such  mis- 
sion, would  not  our  Government  have  placed 
on  record  its  acknowledgment  for  this  great 
act  of  friendship?     On  the  contrary,  Russia 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA    165 

was  very  profuse  in  the  expression  of  her 
thanks  to  us  for  the  hospitable  reception  given 
to  the  fleet  and  its  officers. 

Cassius  M.  Clay,  our  Minister  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, in  his  despatch  to  Secretary  Seward  of 
November  8,  1863,  said  that  His  Majesty  the 
Emperor  was  ''now  absent,  but  no  doubt  he 
would  on  his  return  make  suitable  acknowl- 
edgments to  our  Government  of  the  amicable 
reception  of  his  subjects  at  New  York";  that 
the  Russian  officers  had  ''always  been  grati- 
fied to  meet  those  of  the  American  Navy,  and 
they  would  be  most  happy,  should  any  ships 
of  war  visit  Cronstadt,  to  reciprocate  the  late 
courtesies  extended  to  their  countrymen." 

When  the  Russian  fleet  arrived,  Gideon 
Welles,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  wrote  to  Baron 
Stoeckl,  the  Russian  Minister  at  Washington, 
a  letter  which  shows  that  the  visit  was  one  of 
courtesy  only: 

Navy  Department,  September  23rd,  1863. 

The  Department  is  much  gratified  to  learn  that 
a  squadron  of  Russian  war-vessels  is  at  present  off 
the  harbor  of  New  York,  with  the  intention,  it  is 
supposed,  of  visiting  that  city.  The  presence  in 
our  waters  of  a  squadron  belonging  to  His  Imperial 
Majesty's  navy  cannot  but  be  a  source  of  pleasure 


166  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

and  happiness  to  our  countrymen  [sic].  I  beg  that 
you  will  make  known  to  the  Admiral  in  command 
that  the  facilities  of  the  Brooklyn  Navy-yard  are  at 
his  disposal  for  any  repairs  that  the  vessels  of  his 
squadron  may  need,  and  that  any  other  required 
assistance  will  be  gladly  extended. 

I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  extend  through 
you  to  the  officers  of  His  Majesty's  squadron  a  cor- 
dial invitation  to  visit  the  Navy-yard.  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  it  will  give  Rear-Admiral  Pauld- 
ing very  great  pleasure  to  show  them  the  vessels  and 
other  objects  of  interest  at  the  Naval  station  under 
his  command.^^ 

After  our  Minister  met  the  Emperor,  he 
again  reported  to  Mr.  Seward,  on  August  22, 
1864,  as  follows : 

His  Majesty  told  me  that  he  had  allowed  his 
officers  lately  in  the  United  States  to  call  upon  me 
en  masse,  and  express  their  gratitude  for  the  cour- 
tesies extended  to  them  in  America,  all  of  which  was 
evidently  as  a  national  compliment. 

France  endeavored  to  bring  about  a  joint 
mediation,  and  invited  Russia  and  England  to 
unite  with  her  in  the  attempt,  and  Russia  re- 
fused, but  that  refusal  was  given  after,  and  not 
before,  England  had  refused.    Bayard  Taylor, 

12  This  letter,  from  the  files  of  the  Navy  Department,  was 
published  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  April  18,  1904. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA    167 

who  was  acting  as  Charge  at  St.  Petersburg,  in 
a  despatch,  dated  November  15, 1862,  to  Secre- 
tary Seward,  fully  confirms  this.  He  wrote  as 
follows : 

"While  I  infer  from  the  above  that  Russia  would, 
to  a  certain  extent,  be  inclined  to  take  part  in  a 
movement  which  she  foresaw  to  be  inevitable  on  the 
part  of  England  and  France,  rather  than  permit  a 
coalition  between  these  two  powers  from  which  she 
should  be  wholly  excluded,  the  probable  refusal  of 
the  English  Government,  announced  to-day  by  tele- 
graph, relieves  me  from  all  apprehension  of  compli- 
cations that  might  arise  from  the  proposition.  I 
stated  to  Prince  Gortchakoff,  at  our  recent  inter- 
view, my  belief  that  England  would  not  accede,  and 
am  very  glad  to  find  it  so  soon  confirmed. 

Further  corroboration  of  this  view  is  con- 
tained in  a  later  despatch  from  Mr.  Taylor  to 
Secretary  Seward,  under  date  of  December  17, 
1862,  in  which  he  said : 

Mr.  Adams  having  communicated,  in  answer  to 
my  confidential  letter,  an  encouraging  statement  of 
the  present  attitude  of  England,  I  took  occasion, 
in  an  interview  which  I  had  with  Prince  Gortcha- 
koff last  week,  to  read  him  some  portions  of  it. 
This  led  to  a  renewed  conversation  upon  American 
affairs,  and  it  was  very  soon  evident  to  me  that  the 
anxiety  which  His  Excellency  had  manifested  on 


168  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

previous  occasions  was  beginning  to  subside.  He 
still  inquired  whether  some  arrangement  with  the 
insurgents  which  would  put  an  end  to  the  war  was 
not  possible. 

Henry  Clews,  in  an  article  in  this  Review 
in  1904,  published  a  letter  to  him  from  Mr. 
Gladstone  touching  upon  the  attitude  of  the 
English  Cabinet  during  our  Civil  War,  which 
completely  refutes  the  charge  that  England 
would  have  intervened  in  favor  of  the  Confed- 
eracy but  for  the  friendship  of  Russia  toward 
us.  The  letter  bears  date  May  30,  1889,  and 
is  as  follows: 

As  a  member  of  it  [the  English  Cabinet],  and 
now  nearly  its  sole  surviving  member,  I  can  state 
it  never  at  any  time  dealt  with  the  subject  of  recog- 
nizing the  Southern  States  in  your  great  Civil  War, 
except  when  it  learned  the  proposition  of  the  Em- 
peror Napoleon  HI,  and  declined  to  entertain  that 
proposition  without  qualification,  hesitation,  delay, 
or  dissent.  In  the  debate  which  took  place  on  Mr. 
Roebuck's  proposal  for  that  negotiation.  Lord  Rus- 
sell took  no  part,  and  could  take  none,  as  he  was  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Lords.  I  spoke  for  the 
Cabinet.  You  will,  I  am  sure,  be  glad  to  learn  that 
there  is  no  foundation  for  a  charge  which,  had  it 
been  true,  might  have  aided  in  keeping  alive  angry 
sentiments  happily  gone  by. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA    169 

But  there  is  another  side  to  this  story,  which, 
to  use  a  common  phrase,  puts  the  boot  on  the 
other  leg. 

In  the  beginning  of  1863,  affairs  in  Russia 
were  in  a  very  precarious  state.  An  insur- 
rection in  Poland  had  broken  out  to  such  a 
degree  that  considerable  agitation  was  felt  in 
all  Europe.  The  French  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  invited  Great  Britain,  and  subse- 
quently the  United  States,  to  join  with  France 
in  bringing  about  a  cessation  of  hostilities. 

In  accordance  with  our  policy  of  strict  neu- 
trality and  of  not  mixing  with  the  affairs  of 
European  states,  Mr.  Seward  gave  a  courteous 
declination  to  this  invitation.  This  declina- 
tion produced  such  satisfaction  in  Russia  that 
Prince  Gortchakoff  published  his  reply  to  our 
Minister  in  the  Russian  press.  I  quote  a  few 
passages  therefrom : 

May  22nd,  1863 — I  lost  no  time  in  laying  before 
the  Emperor,  my  august  master,  the  despatch  which 
you  have  communicated  to  me  by  order  of  your 
Government,  and  which  contains  the  answer  of  Mr. 
Seward  to  Mr.  Dayton,  relative  to  the  recent  appli- 
cation of  the  French  Government  upon  the  subject 
of  events  in  the  Kingdom  of  Poland.  His  Majesty 
the  Emperor  has  been  sensibly  moved  by  the  senti- 
ments of  confidence  which  the  Government  of  the 


170  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

United  States  places  in  his  views  and  designs  in 
regard  to  the  general  well-being  of  his  Empire. 
Such  manifestations  must  strengthen  the  bonds  of 
mutual  sympathy  which  unite  the  two  countries, 
and  constitute  a  consunmiation  which  too  much  ac- 
cords with  the  aspirations  of  the  Emperor  for  His 
Majesty  not  to  look  upon  it  with  pleasure. 

The  insurrection  in  Poland  at  that  time  was 
occupying  much  more  of  the  attention  of  the 
cabinets  of  Europe,  including  Russia,  than  our 
Civil  War.  Our  Minister  in  Paris,  Mr.  Day- 
ton, in  his  despatch  to  Mr.  Seward  of  Febru- 
ary 23,  1863,  reports: 

The  insurrection  of  Poland  has  driven  Ameri- 
can affairs  out  of  view  for  the  moment.  A  disturb- 
ance on  the  Continent,  especially  in  Central  Europe, 
is  so  near  at  hand,  and  touches  the  interests  of  so 
many  of  the  crowned  heads  of  these  countries,  that 
distant  events  fall  out  of  sight  until  these  more  im- 
mediate troubles  are  settled. 

Mr.  Clay,  in  his  despatch  of  November  8, 
1863,  says: 

The  Russian  reception  in  American  waters  is 
the  subject  of  conversation  in  all  circles;  and  the 
gentry  and  the  common  people  seem  alike  to  under- 
stand and  feel  the  friendly  demonstration  made  at 
this  time,  when  France,  England  and  Austria  are 
attempting,  under  the  pretence  of  national  justice, 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA    171 

to  put  them  under  the  ban  of  Christendom  for  de- 
fending the  integrity  of  their  Empire/^ 

It  has  frequently  been  declared  by  Russia 
that  her  sale  to  us  of  Alaska  was  made  out  of 
friendship  for  this  country.  That  is  another 
myth.  Charles  Sumner,  who  was  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs  in  the  Sen- 
ate when  the  Alaska  treaty  came  up  for  rati- 
fication, in  his  great  speech  in  support  of  the 
treaty,  under  the  heading  "Reason  for  Ces- 
sion by  Russia,"  said: 

Turning  from  the  question  of  title  which  time 
and  testimony  have  already  settled,  I  meet  the  in- 
quiry, "Why  does  Russia  part  with  possessions  asso- 
ciated with  the  reign  of  her  greatest  ruler  and 
filling  an  important  chapter  of  geographical  his- 
tory? Here  I  am  without  information  not  open  to 
others.  But  I  do  not  forget  that  the  First  Napo- 
leon, in  parting  with  Louisiana,  was  controlled  by 
three  several  considerations.  First,  he  needed  the 
purchase-money  for  his  treasury.  Secondly,  he  was 
unwilling  to  leave  this  distant  unguarded  territory 
a  prey  to  Great  Britain,  in  the  event  of  hostilities, 
which  seemed  at  hand.  And,  thirdly,  he  was  glad, 
according  to  his  own  remarkable  language,  'to  estab- 
lish forever  the  power  of  the  United  States,  and 
give  England  a  maritime  rival  that  would  sooner  or 

13  Foreign  Relations,  1863,  MS.  Archives,  Department  of 
State. 


172  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

later  humble  her  pride.'  Such  is  the  record  of  his- 
tory. Perhaps  a  similar  record  may  be  made  here- 
after with  regard  to  the  present  cession.  There  is 
reason  to  imagine  that  Russia,  with  all  her  great 
empire,  is  financially  poor,  so  that  these  few  millions 
may  not  be  unimportant  to  her.  ...  It  will  be  for 
her  advantage  not  to  hold  outlying  possessions  from 
which  thus  far  she  has  obtained  no  income  commen- 
surate with  the  possible  expense  for  her  protection. 

Sumner,  the  statesman  and  the  author  of 
''Prophetic  Voices  Concerning  America,"  was 
certainly  correct  and  almost  prophetic  in  this 
instance,  for,  with  the  acquisition  of  Alaska, 
the  United  States  did  undoubtedly  purchase 
serious  and  threatening  boundary  and  fishery 
complications  with  Great  Britain,  which  only 
recently  were  happily  settled  by  arbitration. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Russia  was  the 
dominant  power  in  the  so-called  ''Holy  Al- 
liance," whose  purpose  was  to  suppress  all 
forms  of  popular  uprisings,  to  crush  the  spirit 
of  liberty  in  the  Central  and  South  American 
Republics,  and  ultimately,  as  a  logical  conse- 
quence, to  dominate  a  large  part,  if  not  the 
whole,  of  the  American  Continent. 

Russia's  relations  to  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
were  not  confined  to  her  primacy  in  the  "Holy 
Alliance."    In  the  autumn  of  1818,  J.  B.  Pro- 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA     173 

vost,  the  American  Commissioner  who  had 
been  sent  out  by  the  President  to  receive  the 
formal  delivery  of  Astoria,  stopped  on  his  re- 
turn at  the  port  of  Monterey,  in  California, 
and  while  there  prepared  the  report  of  his  mis- 
sion. In  this  report  he  informed  the  Presi- 
dent of  an  incident  that  he  regarded  as  most 
serious — which  was  that,  until  1816,  the  Rus- 
sians had  no  settlement  south  of  the  fifty-fifth 
degree.  But  in  that  year,  very  probably  be- 
cause of  Humboldt's  glowing  description  of 
that  region,  she  had  established  two  colonies, 
one  at  Atooi  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  the 
other  on  the  coast  of  California,  a  few  leagues 
from  San  Francisco. 

In  February,  1822,  the  Russian  Minister  at 
Washington,  Chevalier  Pierre  de  Politica, 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
an  edict  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  to  the  ef- 
fect that  all  rights  of  commerce,  industry  and 
fishing  on  the  Northwest  coast  of  America, 
from  Bering  Strait  to  the  fifty-first  degree, 
were  exclusively  granted  to  Russian  subjects. 
Foreign  vessels  were,  therefore,  not  only  not 
to  land  on  the  coast  and  islands,  but  not  even 
to  come  within  one  hundred  Italian  miles.  The 
subject  was  renewed  by  Politica 's  successor, 


174  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

Baron  de  Tuyl ;  and,  one  day  in  July,  1823, 
when  he  called  at  the  State  Department, 
Adams  announced  to  him  ''that  we  should  con- 
test the  right  of  Russia  to  any  territorial  es- 
tablishment on  this  continent,  and  that  we 
should  assume  distinctly  the  principle  that  the 
American  continents  are  no  longer  subjects 
for  any  European  colonial  establishments." 

According  to  McMaster,  from  whose  excel- 
lent chapter  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine  I  have 
drawn  the  following  statement,  when  the  time 
came  for  Monroe  to  write  his  annual  message 
to  Congress,  three  distinct  matters  required 
the  President's  serious  attention:  ''the  at- 
tempt of  Russia  to  colonize  in  California  and 
her  selection  of  the  fifty-first  degree  of  north 
latitude  as  the  southern  boundary  of  Alaska; 
the  threatened  intervention  of  the  Holy  Al- 
liance in  the  affairs  of  South-American  Re- 
publics ;  and  the  proposition  of  Canning  for  a 
joint  declaration  against  them.""  The  Cab- 
inet held  meeting  after  meeting  to  discuss 
these  matters ;  they  had  before  them  the  opin- 
ions of  the  two  living  ex-Presidents,  Jefferson 
and  Madison.  What  was  done  Adams  himself 
best  describes: 

14  "With  the  Fathers,"  by  John  Bach  McMaster,  pp.  1-54. 


UNITED  STATES  AND  RUSSIA    175 

I  remarked  that  the  communications  recently 
received  from  the  Russian  Minister,  Baron  de  Tuyl, 
afforded,  I  thought,  a  very  suitable  and  convenient 
opportunity  for  us  to  take  our  stand  against  the 
Holy  Alliance,  and  at  the  same  time  to  decline  the 
overture  of  Great  Britain.  It  would  be  more 
candid,  as  well  as  more  dignified,  to  avow  our  prin- 
ciples explicitly  to  Russia  and  France,  than  to  come 
in  as  a  cockboat  in  the  wake  of  the  British  man-of- 
war.     This  idea  was  acquiesced  in  on  all  sides. 

It  follows  as  a  conclusion  that  snch  reasons 
for  gratitude  as  we  may  have  to  Russia  are 
not  for  her  friendly,  but  for  her  hostile,  at- 
titude toward  us,  in  that  these  important  in- 
cidents were  mainly  the  cause  of  our  formulat- 
ing and  announcing  to  the  world  our  far-seeing 
continental  policy. 

I  have  endeavored  to  present  briefly  the  re- 
sults of  a  careful  examination  of  all  accessible 
authentic  and  reliable  data  bearing  upon  the 
relations  of  the  two  countries,  from  the  reign 
of  Empress  Catharine  II  to  the  present  time. 
The  inferences  and  conclusions  from  these 
facts  are  clear,  that,  with  the  exception  of 
Russia's  hostile  or  unfriendly  attitude  during 
the  earlier  years  of  our  history,  when  the 
United  States  was  struggling  for  recognition 
as  an  independent  nation,  and  the  "Holy  Al- 


176  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

liance"  incident,  the  relations  between  Russia 
and  the  United  States  have  been  uniformly 
normal  and  friendly;  each  nation,  as  against 
the  other,  on  all  occasions  and  during  periods 
of  war,  has  strictly  observed  its  neutral  obli- 
gations, as  was  incumbent  upon  it  under  the 
laws  of  nations  between  friendly  powers.  To 
infer  that  the  United  States  is  under  obliga- 
tions of  gratitude  to  Russia  for  any  special 
acts  of  friendship  shown,  other  than  such  as 
the  laws  of  neutrality  have  imposed,  is  to  sub- 
stitute a  myth  and  the  fulsome  language  of 
ceremonial  functions  for  historical  facts. 


IX 

OUR  COMMERCIAL  AGE 


IX 

OUR  COMMERCIAL  AGE 

GEORGIA  was  founded  in  a  military  age, 
and  no  colony  in  ancient  or  in  modern 
times  had  a  nobler  beginning  or  a  more  phil- 
anthropic founder  than  the  colony  of  Georgia. 
His  was  the  first  great  effort  to  alleviate  the 
social  and  economic  condition  of  the  poorer 
classes.  The  people  whom  the  great  Ogle- 
thorpe brought  with  him,  and  those  who  fol- 
lowed in  his  path,  had  been  racked  and  crushed 
— some  by  economic  oppression,  others  by  re- 
ligious persecution.  The  colonists,  though 
coming  from  different  countries  of  the  old 
world — Britons,  Moravians,  and  Salzburgers 
— ^were  welded  together  by  a  common  heritage 
of  suffering.  By  the  direction  of  Oglethorpe, 
both  slavery  and  rum  were  prohibited.  Sa- 
vannah began  as  a  dry  town,  and  it  has  re- 
cently reverted,  in  honor  of  the  principles  of 
its  founder,  to  its  primeval  dryness.  So  his- 
tory repeats  itself.    Oh,  what  woes  unnum- 

179 


180  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

bered  might  have  been  spared  the  whole  South- 
land if  the  cardinal  principles  of  Oglethorpe 
could  have  been  preserved  and  extended.  He 
knew,  aside  from  all  humanitarian  considera- 
tions, what  slavery  and  militarism  meant. 
They  dignified  idleness,  and  degraded  produc- 
tive occupations.  One  of  the  greatest  bless- 
ings of  our  industrial  and  commercial  age  is 
the  fact  that  it  has  dignified  labor,  and  in  dig- 
nifying labor  has  unlocked  the  mainspring  of 
personal  initiative,  energy,  and  enterprise, 
which  lie  at  the  basis  of  our  wonderful  growth 
and  prosperity. 

The  example  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  not  only  in  the  liberty  they  enjoy  but 
in  enfranchising  the  workingman,  and  in  giv- 
ing him  the  material  rewards  of  labor,  as  well 
as  the  honors  that  true  merit  deserves,  has 
wielded  a  powerful  influence  in  every  civilized 
land.  Barons,  counts,  dukes,  and  lords  come 
to  us  from  foreign  lands,  craving  the  hands  of 
the  fair  daughters  of  our  captains  of  industry, 
and  do  not  reject  the  millions  that  their  fath- 
ers, the  horny-handed  sons  of  toil,  have  ac- 
cumulated. 

Our  age  and  generation  are  preeminently 
commercial,   and   the   people   of  the   United 


OUR  COMMERCIAL  AGE  181 

States  are  in  the  forefront,  both  in  the  rewards 
they  reap  and  in  the  prosperity  they  enjoy. 
The  spirit  of  commerce  has  contributed  more 
than  all  other  causes  toward  bringing  together 
the  various  sections  of  this  great  nation,  which, 
in  its  growth  and  development,  in  its  neces- 
sities and  expansion,  has  wiped  out  sectional- 
ism and  made  us  one  united  people. 

The  classes  engaged  in  industry  and  com- 
merce, says  the  historian  Lecky,  have  been  the 
steady  supporters  of  English  liberty.  Yes, 
commerce  in  its  modern  development  is  based 
upon  mutuality,  and  every  ship  that  carries 
its  products  to  foreign  climes  is  a  messenger 
of  peace  and  good  will.  Commerce  thrives 
along  the  highways  of  peace,  and  it  speaks  the 
universal  language  of  peace.  No  agency  is 
working  more  steadily  toward  the  ideals  of  in- 
ternational peace  than  the  agencies  of  com- 
merce. Appreciating  all  this  as  I  do,  and  ap- 
preciating also  the  fact  that  the  ideal  condition 
for  all  nations  would  be  to  save  the  millions 
they  are  now  spending  on  armies  and  navies 
and  use  them  in  promoting  the  economic  wel- 
fare of  the  masses;  yet  so  long  as  other 
nations,  though  progressing  toward  that  ideal, 
are  far  from  its  realization,  a  great  country 


182  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

such  as  ours,  with  a  tremendous  seacoast  and 
with  great  international  interests,  can  best 
serve  the  cause  of  peace  and  hasten  the  ideal 
condition  by  a  navy  adequate  in  strength  and 
efficiency  to  give  it  the  proper  weight  in  the 
promotion  of  peace  in  the  council  of  nations. 

We  say  the  North  and  the  South,  the  East 
and  the  West — their  interests  are  one  eco- 
nomically, politically  and  commercially.  It  is 
that  reason,  and  because  of  this  commercial 
expansion,  with  the  network  of  railroads  run- 
ning from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  and  from 
the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  carrying  the  products 
of  the  mines,  the  farms,  and  the  factories  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  which  cross  both  oceans  to  the 
markets  of  Europe  and  the  Orient,  that  has 
necessitated  a  wider  interpretation  of  the  com- 
merce clauses  of  the  Constitution  than  was  re- 
quired or  foreseen  by  those  who  carried  on  the 
infant  industries  of  the  thirteen  original 
States.  To  restrict  those  clauses  to  the  con- 
ditions that  existed  when  the  Constitution  was 
adopted  would  discredit  not  only  the  wise 
statesmanship  of  our  day  but  the  spirit  and 
prophetic  vision  of  the  founders  of  our  Repub- 
lic, who  boldly  led  the  way  in  expanding  our 
national  domain,  bv  reason  of  which  we  have 


OUR  COMMERCIAL  AGE  183 

grown  from  a  nation  of  three  millions  to  a  na- 
tion of  ninety  millions  in  the  course  of  four 
generations.  This  tremendous  growth,  the 
greatest  marvel  in  national  development,  has 
brought  in  its  train  great  duties  and  great  re- 
sponsibilities. The  generations  that  have 
gone  before  us  have  organized  and  developed 
equal  rights  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land.  Our  care  must  be  that  the  gate- 
way of  opportunity  to  these  blessings  shall  not 
be  obstructed,  by  either  the  tyranny  of  capital 
or  the  tyranny  of  labor. 

The  commercial  development  of  the  South, 
as  distinguished  from  the  production  of  agri- 
cultural staples,  is  of  comparatively  recent 
growth,  and  for  that  reason  it  is  all  the  more 
remarkable.  Since  1870  the  railways  of  the 
South  have  grown  from  12,500  to  61,600  miles; 
in  other  words,  they  have  practically  quintu- 
pled in  length,  while  those  of  the  other  parts 
of  the  United  States  have  only  quadrupled. 
Take  the  cotton  manufacturing  industry.  In 
the  same  period  of  time  it  grew  from  eleven 
millions  to  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  mil- 
lions. In  the  same  period  the  value  of  all 
manufactures  produced  in  the  South  has 
grown  from  two  hundred  and  seventy-eight 


184  THE  ALIERICAN  SPIRIT 

millions  to  1,526  millions,  nearly  double  as 
much  in  percentage  as  the  rest  of  the  country. 
In  the  period  from  1900  to  1906,  the  number 
of  national  banks  and  individual  deposits 
in  national  banks  have  increased  more  than 
one  hundred  per  cent,  while  the  deposits  in 
the  banking  institutions  of  the  country  as  a 
whole  have  increased  only  eighty  per  cent. 
In  the  State  of  Georgia  the  growth  has  been 
equally  gratifying.  The  value  of  cotton  man- 
ufactures from  1870  to  1905  grew  from  three 
and  one-half  millions  to  thirty-five  millions, 
and  the  total  value  of  manufactures  during 
the  same  period  grew  from  thirty-one  millions 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  millions ;  and  the 
value  of  exports  passing  out  of  the  port  of 
Savannah  from  thirty  millions  in  1870  to 
more  than  sixty-three  millions  in  the  fiscal 
year  1907. 

I  have  referred  to  this,  not  to  glorify  your 
greatness,  but  rather  to  direct  attention  to  fu- 
ture possibilities.  Great  as  this  growth  has 
been,  Georgia's  opportunities  for  the  future 
will  certainly  be  largely  increased  by  the  con- 
struction and  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal. 
The  market  for  cotton  goods  in  Latin  Amer- 
ica amounts  to  one  hundred  millions  a  year, 


OUR  COMMERCIAL  AGE  185 

and  with  the  opening  of  that  canal  the  entire 
Pacific  frontage  of  Latin  America,  the  total 
imports  of  which  amount  to  more  than  six 
hundred  millions,  will  present  attractive  mar- 
kets. 

Another  important  matter,  in  this  connec- 
tion, is  deserving  of  immediate  attention. 
We  may  have  the  products  of  the  farm  and 
the  factory  in  abundance ;  we  may  spend  mil- 
lions upon  waterways  and  upon  harbors,  and 
millions  again  upon  what  will  prove  to  be 
the  greatest  and  most  far-reaching  commer- 
cial enterprise  that  any  nation  has  ever  under- 
taken— the  construction  of  the  Panama  Canal 
— but  the  benefits  from  them  will  never  ade- 
quately flow  to  us  unless  we  control  the  means 
of  transportation  to  carry  our  products  and 
our  mails  in  our  own  ships,  under  our  own 
flag,  by  the  most  direct  route  to  the  markets 
that  we  seek  to  cultivate. 

Commerce  is  reciprocal,  and  the  ships  that 
go  to  the  South  and  Central  American  mar- 
kets to  carry  the  products  that  we  sell  must 
return  with  products  which  the  people  of 
those  countries  sell  to  us.  All  the  great  mari- 
time powers,  whether  their  economic  policy  is 
free  trade  or  protection,  create  and  maintain 


186         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

fast  freight  and  fast  passenger  lines  to  their 
foreign  markets  by  means  of  liberal  postal 
payments.  Sixty  years  ago,  when  our  com- 
merce was  insignificant,  President  Polk  rec- 
ommended subventions,  and  Congress  granted 
them.  These  subventions  were,  on  a  moder- 
ate and  limited  scale,  reestablished  in  the  pos- 
tal law  of  1891,  and  what  is  demanded  now  is 
that  that  postal  law  be  extended  so  that  our 
commerce  and  our  passengers  will  not  be  com- 
pelled to  go  to  the  markets  on  this  continent 
by  way  of  Europe,  and  by  twice  crossing  the 
Atlantic  Ocean.  There  is  a  bill  before  Con- 
gress, the  purpose  of  which  is  to  extend  this 
subvention  so  as  to  make  it  effective  in  reach- 
ing the  markets  on  this  continent  and  along 
the  Pacific  Ocean,  namely,  to  give  the  same 
postal  subvention  that  is  provided  for  under 
the  law  of  1891  and  adapt  it  to  ships  that  ply 
in  those  waters,  or,  in  other  words,  to  give 
four  dollars  a  ton  per  mile  to  vessels  of  the 
second  class  on  routes  4,000  miles  or  more  in 
length,  outward  voyage,  to  South  America,  to 
the  Philippines,  to  Japan,  to  China,  and  to 
Australasia.  To  accomplish  this  will  require 
no  more  than  the  profit  that  the  Government 
is  now  making  on  its  foreign  mail  contracts. 


OUR  COMMERCIAL  AGE  187 

The  actual  cost  to  the  Government  last  year 
of  the  ocean-mail  service  to  foreign  countries, 
other  than  Canada  and  Mexico,  was  in  round 
numbers  three  million  dollars,  while  the  pro- 
ceeds realized  by  the  Government  from  pos- 
tage between  the  United  States  and  foreign 
countries,  other  than  Canada  and  Mexico,  was 
a  little  in  excess  of  six  millions,  leaving  a 
profit  of  a  little  more  than  three  million  dol- 
lars per  annum.  The  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try yields  to  the  Government  this  three  mil- 
lion dollars  in  postage  alone,  and  all  that  is 
asked  is  that  this  three  million  dollars  be  de- 
voted to  extending  the  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try in  American  bottoms  sailing  under  the 
American  flag.  This  is  the  commercial  end 
of  the  proposition. 

The  need  of  auxiliary  vessels  in  time  of 
war  for  military  service  is  indispensable,  both 
for  the  Army  and  for  the  Navy.  Not  many 
months  ago  it  became  necessary  to  dispatch  a 
small  force  of  American  troops  to  Cuba. 
They  were  sent  under  the  British  flag.  The 
peaceful  and  magnificent  voyage  that  our  pow- 
erful fleet  of  warships  is  now  making  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  would  have  been 
impeded,  if  not  made  prohibitive,  unless  we 


188  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

had  secured  the   shelter  of  foreign  flags  to 
carry  the  necessary  coal. 

This  is  not  a  party  question  in  any  sense 
of  the  word.  It  is  a  question  affecting  the 
commerce  of  the  entire  country,  its  mail  serv- 
ice, and  the  necessities  of  the  nation,  and  of 
insuring  adequate  naval  protection  in  time  of 
war. 

In  the  old  South  the  industries  were  chiefly 
agricultural,  and  therefore  were  sectionalized. 
But  the  new  South  is  fast  developing  its  man- 
ufacturing possibilities  and  nationalizing  its 
industries,  and  its  commerce  is  an  integral 
part  both  of  the  domestic  commerce  of  the  na- 
tion and  of  our  commerce  with  the  world.  It 
has  been  truthfully  said  that  the  scepter  of 
nations  has  passed  from  camps  to  commerce, 
and  is  controlled,  not  by  the  booted  and 
spurred  captains  of  dragoons,  but  by  the  cap- 
tains of  capital  and  enterprise. 

For  many  years  past  the  greatest  commer- 
cial nations  of  the  world,  recognizing  that  not 
only  the  power  of  the  nation  but  the  well  be- 
ing of  the  people  depends  upon  its  industries 
and  its  commerce,  have  encouraged  by  liberal 
appropriations  a  close  and  cooperative  rela- 
tionship between  governmental  agencies  and 


OUR  COMMERCIAL  AGE  189 

commercial  organizations.  The  Department 
over  which  it  is  my  privilege  to  preside  was 
established  in  1903,  in  response  to  that  same 
purpose  to  afford  such  help  as  the  Govern- 
ment can  properly  give  to  the  encouragement 
and  development  of  commerce  at  home  and 
abroad.  With  the  view  of  making  that  coop- 
eration practical  and  effective,  I  summoned  to 
Washington  for  consultation  delegates  from 
commercial  organizations  in  the  larger  cities 
of  the  country.  Several  of  the  commercial 
cities  of  the  South  were  represented  at  that 
conference,  and  the  plan  developed  was  to  or- 
ganize a  National  Council  of  Commerce,  rep- 
resenting every  section  of  the  country  and 
every  industrial  and  commercial  organization, 
with  a  bureau  at  Washington,  under  capable 
administration,  which  should  be  in  constant 
touch  with  those  governmental  departments, 
such  as  the  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor,  the  State  Department,  the  Interior 
Department,  and  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, which  come  into  direct  touch  with  the 
industries  of  the  country  and  with  its  do- 
mestic and  foreign  commerce.  No  country 
has  more  enterprising,  more  capable,  or  better 
trained  men  in  its  business  and  its  commerce 


190  THE  AMERICAN  SPIEIT 

than  we  have,  and  therefore  all  the  greater  is 
the  need  that  there  should  be  a  close  relation- 
ship between  the  Government  and  the  com- 
mercial bodies  of  the  country,  for  the  ad- 
vancement and  development  of  its  great  busi- 
ness interests.  We  require  a  body  such  as 
Great  Britain  has,  such  as  Germany  has, 
which,  when  it  speaks,  voices  the  true  commer- 
cial interest  of  the  country,  unhampered  by 
selfish  interests  or  sectional  claims,  or  politi- 
cal limitations. 

For  the  proper  development  of  our  indus- 
tries we  need  an  adequate  supply  of  the  best 
kind  of  labor,  and  in  order  to  obtain  that  sup- 
ply we  must  make  the  standard  of  wage  at- 
tractive to  that  class,  to  the  skilled  and  enter- 
prising immigrants  that  continually  come  to 
us  from  foreign  shores.  It  is  rather  the 
vogue  now  to  speak  against  the  immigrant 
and  immigration,  forgetting  what  we  are  and 
what  we  owe  to  the  twenty-five  million  willing 
workers  that  have  come  to  us  in  the  past  hun- 
dred years  to  develop  the  great  possibilities 
of  this  country  and  make  us  the  great  nation 
that  we  are.  All  honor  to  the  descendants  of 
the  Puritan  and  Pilgrim  fathers;  but  in  hon- 
oring them  let  us  not  withhold  our  high  ap- 


OUR  COMMERCIAL  AGE  191 

preciation  and  meed  of  praise  for  the  immi- 
grants who  have  come  to  us  in  the  succeeding 
decades.  They  and  their  children,  in  peace 
and  in  war,  have  proved  no  less  true  and  noble 
Americans  than  those  who  preceded  them  in 
time  but  did  not  surpass  them  in  the  love  of 
our  common  country.  Yes,  we  welcome  the 
immigrant  to  our  country,  the  self-respecting 
and  honest-minded  alien,  no  matter  from  what 
country  he  comes,  who  is  willing  to  share  with 
us  not  only  the  blessings  but  also  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  our  great  country;  but 
they,  as  well  as  all  our  people,  must  under- 
stand that  in  this  land  of  liberty,  equality, 
and  justice  there  is  no  room  for  socialism, 
communism,  collectivism,  or  any  other  form 
of  ''ism"  than  Americanism,  which  rests  upon 
the  Ten  Commandments,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States. 


COMMERCE  AND  INTERNATIONAL  RE- 
LATIONS 


COMMERCE  AND  INTERNATIONAL  RE- 
LATIONS 

THIS  meeting  of  representative  men  from 
the  great  mercantile  communities  of  the 
country  to  consider  a  further  extension  of  our 
foreign  commerce,  and  especially  of  our  ex- 
port trade,  is  characteristic  of  the  true  Amer- 
ican spirit  which  counts  even  its  greatest  suc- 
cess as  a  mere  stimulus  to  further  conquest. 
Not  content  with  the  fact  that  our  exports  of 
domestic  products  have  doubled  in  the  past 
decade,  while  those  of  G-ermany,  our  most 
active  rival,  have  increased  seventy-five  per 
cent.,  those  of  the  United  Kingdom  less  than 
fifty  per  cent.,  and  those  of  France  forty  per 
cent.,  we  find  representatives  of  the  great  in- 
dustries and  commercial  interests  of  all  parts 
of  the  country  meeting  here  to  consider  ways 
and  means  for  the  development  still  further 
of  that  export  trade  which  has  placed  the 
United  States  in  the  front  rank  of  nations  as 

195 


196  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

an  exporter  of  domestic  products.  The  two 
questions  of  paramount  importance  present- 
ing themselves  to  the  delegates  to  this  Con- 
vention are: 

First.  What  has  been  the  cause  of  the  phe- 
nomenal growth  in  our  exports?  and 

Second.  What  may  we  do  to  continue  and 
still  further  develop  that  growth? 

In  answer  to  the  first  question,  it  may  be 
stated  as  an  accepted  fact  that  our  growth  in 
the  volume  of  exports  is  attributable  to  the 
ever  increasing  demand  abroad  for  such  arti- 
cles as  cotton,  iron,  copper,  timber,  and  coal, 
with  which  nature  has  supplied  us  so  bounti- 
fully. 

The  answer  to  the  second  question  is  more 
involved.  There  are  many  great  factors  to  be 
considered  in  the  solution  of  this  problem  so 
vital  to  the  future  welfare  of  our  country, 
some  of  which  are  exceedingly  important  and 
are  entitled  to  far  more  consideration  than  is 
usually  accorded  to  them  in  our  study  of  the 
subject. 

I  refer  to  the  friendly  sentiment  or  good 
will  of  foreign  nations,  which  in  my  opinion 
is  a  greater  economic  and  international  factor 
than  is  generally  recognized;  and  also  to  an- 


INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONS     197 

other  factor,  one  which  comes  in  close  con- 
junction with  the  former — that  of  immigra- 
tion— which  as  a  commercial  stimulus  draws 
after  it  and  reflects  back  to  the  mother  coun- 
try a  greater  commercial  intercourse  and  com- 
mercial good  will  than  we  perhaps  realize. 

The  friendly  sentiment  that  exists  between 
nations,  while  due  in  many  cases  to  descent 
from  a  common  stock  and  to  the  presence  in 
one  country  of  many  former  citizens  of  an- 
other, is  also  due  to  the  existence  of  that  other 
commercial  factor,  invested  capital.  The 
friendly  sentiment  existing  between  the 
United  States  and  all  English-speaking  na- 
tions is,  of  course,  the  result,  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, of  a  common  parentage  and  the  use  of  a 
common  language  as  a  medium  of  intercourse. 
In  the  case  of  our  dealings  with  the  Germanic 
nations  there  is  not  only  the  close  relation- 
ship between  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Ger- 
manic, but  also  the  presence  in  this  country  of 
millions  of  representatives  of  those  nations. 

The  number  of  immigrants  admitted  into 
the  United  States  from  Germany  alone  since 
1820  exceeds  five  millions,  and  the  number  of 
natives  of  that  country  residing  in  the  United 
States  at  the  present  time  is  nearly  three  mil- 


198  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

lions.  The  number  of  Austrians  residing  in 
the  United  States  at  the  date  of  the  last  cen- 
sus was  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million;  of 
natives  of  Holland,  more  than  a  hundred  thou- 
sand ;  and  of  natives  of  Norway,  Sweden,  and 
Denmark,  more  than  a  million;  while  of  na- 
tives of  the  United  Kingdom  the  total  in  1900 
was  two  and  three-quarter  millions,  and  of 
Canada  more  than  a  million. 

But  this  closeness  of  sentiment  and  of  com- 
mercial intercourse,  which  to  a  high  degree  is 
the  result  of  the  presence  in  the  United  States 
of  millions  of  people  and  billions  of  capital 
from  foreign  countries,  is  not  only  affected 
but  aided  by  similar  conditions  applying,  in  a 
much  smaller  degree  to  be  sure,  to  American 
citizens  and  American  capital  in  foreign 
countries.  The  latest  available  statistics  in- 
dicate that  the  number  of  natives  of  the 
United  States  who  are  now  residing  in  some 
part  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  approximately 
thirty  thousand. 

The  German  census  of  1900  showed  the 
presence  of  about  eighteen  thousand  of  our 
citizens  residing  in  Germany.  The  Mexican 
census  showed  nearly  sixteen  thousand  Amer- 
icans residing  in  Mexico  in  1900,  and  the  Ca- 


INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONS    199 

nadian  census  of  1901  showed  about  forty-one 
thousand  natives  of  the  United  States  resid- 
ing in  Canada.  The  fact  that  subsequent 
Canadian  records  show  a  migration  of  twen- 
ty-five thousand  to  forty-five  thousand  per 
annum  from  the  United  States  to  Canada 
suggests  that  the  number  of  our  own  people 
now  residing  in  the  Dominion  is  probably 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand. 

Our  consul-general  to  Mexico  reported,  two 
or  three  years  ago,  that  more  than  five  hun- 
dred million  dollars  of  American  capital  was 
invested  in  that  country ;  and  persons  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  movements  of  investments 
out  of  the  United  States  are  of  the  opinion 
that  this  sum  has  since  been  increased  at  the 
rate  of  perhaps  a  hundred  million  dollars  per- 
annum,  and  that  the  total  American  capital 
now  invested  in  Mexico  approximates  eight 
hundred  million  dollars.  Reports  from  our 
consuls  in  Canada,  and  from  other  available 
records,  indicate  that  the  investment  of  Amer- 
ican capital  among  our  neighbors  on  the  north 
is  also  to  be  measured  by  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  doUars. 

Our  consul-general  in  Cuba  has  indicated 
that  in  his  opinion  the  amount  of  American 


200  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

capital  there  invested  is  between  one  hundred 
and  two  hundred  million  dollars,  and  a  study 
of  this  subject  -recently  made  by  the  Bureau 
of  Statistics  develops  the  fact  that  probably 
a  hundred  million  of  American  capital  have 
been  invested  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and 
from  ten  to  fifteen  million  dollars  in  Porto 
Rico.  In  the  great  countries  of  Europe, 
where  capital  is  plentiful,  American  inven- 
tions and  American  skill  in  manufacturing 
and  management  have  combined  with  local 
capital  to  develop  great  industrial  enter- 
prises, which  have  strengthened  the  cordial- 
ity of  sentiment  already  existing  between  the 
two  peoples. 

Let  us  see  whether  the  existence  of  these 
factors,  of  a  favorable  sentiment  strength- 
ened by  the  presence  in  each  nation  of  per- 
sonal and  financial  representatives  of  the 
other,  has  been  followed  by  a  growth  and 
maintenance  of  cordial  commercial  relation- 
ship. What  country  is  the  most  important 
customer  for  American  exports?  The  United 
Kingdom,  having  with  us  a  common  language, 
and  of  whose  people  we  had  in  1900  two  and 
three-quarter  millions  in  the  United  States, 
and  to  which  we  have  sent  thirty  thousand  of 


INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONS     201 

our  own  people  to  become  permanent  resi- 
dents of  its  own  communities. 

What  nation  is  next  in  importance  in  both 
our  export  and  our  import  trade?  Germany, 
of  whose  people  we  had  in  1900  two  and  two- 
third  millions,  and  to-day  have  perhaps  as 
many  as  three  millions  and  in  which  country 
probably  twenty  thousand  Americans  now  re- 
side as  part  of  its  communities.  What  is  the 
next  country  in  rank  in  our  export  trade? 
Canada,  of  whose  people  we  had  in  1900  over 
a  million,  and  in  whose  communities  probably 
a  hundred  thousand  former  citizens  of  the 
United  States  now  reside,  and  in  which  are 
invested  large  sums  of  American  capital. 
Still  another  country  with  which  our  trade  re- 
lations have  grown  with  wonderful  rapidity  is 
Mexico,  which  takes  two-thirds  of  its  imports 
from  us  and  sends  three-fourths  of  its  exports 
to  us,  and  in  which  country  probably  twenty 
thousand  former  citizens  of  the  United  States 
reside  and  hundreds  of  millions  of  American 
capital  are  invested,  while  the  number  of  for- 
mer citizens  of  Mexico  now  residing  in  the 
United  States  is  more  than  a  hundred  thou- 
sand. 

Take  the  reverse  side  of  the  picture.    We 


202  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

often  wonder  that  our  trade  with  France,  with 
which  our  relations  have  always  been  cordial, 
grows  so  slowly,  and  that  we  supply  only 
about  ten  per  cent,  of  its  imports,  while  to 
Germany  we  supply  fourteen  per  cent.,  to  the 
United  Kingdom  twenty-five  per  cent.,  and 
to  Canada  sixty  per  cent,  of  their  imports. 
While  this  apparently  anomalous  condition  is 
doubtless  due  in  part  to  the  restrictive  policy 
of  France,  may  it  not  also  be  due  in  some  de- 
gree to  the  fact  that  the  total  number  of 
French  residing  in  the  United  States  in  1900 
was  but  one  hundred  and  four  thousand,  as 
compared  with  two  and  two-third  millions 
from  Germany,  two  and  three-fourth  millions 
from  the  United  Kingdom,  and  more  than  a 
million  from  Canada? 

We  have  been  surprised  at  the  very  rapid 
growth  of  our  trade  with  Italy  in  recent  years, 
which  has  expanded  from  practically  forty 
million  dollars  in  1896  to  nearly  ninety  mil- 
lions at  the  present  time ;  but  when  we  realize 
that  the  number  of  Italians  in  the  United 
States  in  1900  was  nearly  a  half  million,  and 
that  the  number  has  grown  with  phenomenal 
rapidity  in  recent  years,  we  find  in  the  grati- 
fying enlargement  of  our  trade  relations  with 


INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONS    203 

that  country  an  additional  argument  support- 
ing the  theory  that  closeness  of  relationship 
between  the  people  of  the  two  countries  is  an 
important  factor  in  the  development  of  com- 
mercial relations. 

The  number  of  Russians  in  the  United 
States  in  1900  was  nearly  half  a  million,  and 
the  increase  since  then  has  been  very  great. 
The  value  of  our  exports  to  Russia  has  more 
than  doubled  in  the  past  decade,  and  the  value 
of  our  imports  from  that  country  has  more 
than  quadrupled.  We  have  wondered,  and 
with  reason,  at  the  slow  growth  of  our  ex- 
ports to  our  South  American  neighbors,  and 
especially  at  their  small  value  when  compared 
with  the  large  amount  represented  by  our  im- 
ports from  that  section  of  the  world.  But  do 
we  take  sufficiently  into  consideration  the  fact 
that  the  South  American  countries  are  peo- 
pled by  races  less  closely  akin  to  us  in  na- 
tionality and  in  language  than  those  previ- 
ously mentioned,  and  that  American  citizens 
and  American  capital  are  seldom  found  in 
those  communities? 

These  countries  are  generously  populated 
with  Europeans  and  are  enjoying  the  benefi- 
cial effects  of  their  capital.    The  number  of 


204  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

people  from  South  America  residing  in  the 
United  States  in  1900  was  fewer  than  five 
thousand,  as  compared  with  more  than  one 
hundred  thousand  from  Mexico,  over  a  million 
from  Canada,  two  and  two-third  millions  from 
Germany,  and  two  and  three-quarter  millions 
from  the  United  Kingdom. 

What  are  the  conclusions  to  be  drawn  from 
these  facts  and  figures  in  their  relation  to  our 
foreign  trade?  Clearly,  that  the  sentiment  of 
friendship  as  well  as  that  of  cordiality  which 
has  accompanied  the  development  of  com- 
merce with  those  countries  with  which  our 
commercial  intercourse  is  greatest  and  most 
satisfactory  should  be  continued  and  fostered. 
The  presence  in  the  United  States  of  capital 
from  foreign  countries  and  the  presence  in 
such  countries  of  American  capital  surely 
strengthens  commercial  relations  between  the 
nations,  while  the  presence  of  industrious  citi- 
zens from  those  countries  has  doubtless  been 
of  great  aid  in  developing  the  many  industries 
that  have  made  us  the  most  wealthy  and  pros- 
perous nation  of  the  world,  as  well  as  the 
greatest  manufacturing  nation,  and  placed  us 
in  the  front  rank  of  exporters  of  domestic 
products  and  of  manufactures. 


INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONS     205 

In  our  personal  relationships  with  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  various  nations,  in  the 
consular  and  diplomatic  relationship  with 
those  countries,  and  in  the  relation  of  our 
Government  to  such  nations  and  their  people, 
we  may  continually  and  materially  aid  and 
strengthen  that  wonderful  commercial  devel- 
opment, the  prosperity  and  growth  of  which 
has  been  our  pride.  It  is  a  growth  that  we 
are  striving  to  develop  still  further.  For  the 
purpose  of  properly  expanding  and  enlarging 
our  trade  relations,  it  is  of  the  highest  im- 
portance that  the  executive  branch  of  our 
Government  charged  with  the  cultivation  of 
friendly  relations  with  foreign  nations  shall 
not  be  hampered  by  any  narrowness  or  short- 
sightedness on  the  part  of  our  law-makers, 
either  national  or  in  the  separate  States,  for 
every  obstacle  that  is  placed  in  the  way  of 
friendly  international  relations  is  bound  to  re- 
flect and  act  as  a  check  upon  our  foreign  com- 
merce, and  at  the  same  time  upon  our  wage- 
workers,  of  whom  so  many  are  employed  in 
industries  and  manufactures  engaged  in  ex- 
port. As  it  has  been  shown  that  the  move- 
ment of  population  from  one  country  to  an- 
other is  one  of  the  forerunners  of  interna- 


206  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

tional  trade,  as  well  as  a  great  factor  in 
promoting  it,  we  must  have  a  care  not  to  put 
unreasonable  checks  upon  that  migration. 

Our  trade  with  China  grew  with  rapidity 
so  long  as  the  exclusion  law  was  clearly  un- 
derstood to  apply  only  to  the  coolie  class. 
Her  merchants  and  travelers  and  representa- 
tive people  visited  this  country  freely  and 
sent  their  sons  to  be  educated  at  our  schools, 
colleges,  and  universities.  In  like  manner 
Americans  visited  China  freely,  and  the  num- 
ber of  our  people  residing  in  that  country  in- 
creased from  fewer  than  thirteen  hundred  in 
1894  to  more  than  three  thousand  and  two 
hundred  in  1904. 

Our  exports  to  China  grew  from  less  than 
five  million  dollars  in  1895  to  more  than  fifty 
millions  in  1905,  and  while  we  believe  that  the 
diminution  of  more  than  twenty  millions  in 
that  trade  in  1906  was  due,  in  some  degree,  to 
the  fact  that  the  trade  of  1905  was  abnormally 
large,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  due 
in  some  part  to  the  recent  trade  boycotts,  re- 
sulting from  the  feeling  on  the  part  of  the 
Chinese  that  their  representative  people  do 
not  receive  proper  treatment  when  they  apply 
for  admission  to  the  United  States.     So  ap- 


INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONS    207 

parent  was  this  fact  that  President  Roosevelt, 
in  a  message  to  Congress  a  year  ago,  urged 
the  enactment  of  a  Chinese  admission  act,  say- 
ing: 

Chinese  students,  business  and  professional  men 
of  all  kinds — not  only  merchants,  but  bankers,  doc- 
tors, manufacturers,  professors,  travelers,  and  the 
like — should  be  encouraged  to  come  here  and  be 
treated  on  precisely  the  same  footing  that  we  treat 
students,  business  men,  travelers,  and  the  like,  of 
other  nations.  Our  laws  and  treaties  should  be 
framed,  not  so  as  to  put  these  people  in  the  excepted 
classes,  but  to  state  that  we  will  admit  all  Chinese, 
except  Chinese  of  the  coolie  class,  Chinese  skilled 
or  unskilled  laborers.  There  would  not  be  the  least 
danger  that  any  such  provision  would  result  in  any 
relaxation  of  the  law  about  laborers.  These  will, 
under  all  conditions,  be  kept  out  absolutely.  But  it 
will  be  more  easy  to  see  that  both  justice  and 
courtesy  are  shown,  as  they  ought  to  be  shown,  to 
other  Chinese,  if  the  law  or  treaty  is  framed  as  above 
suggested. 

Our  trade  with  Japan  has  also  shown  a  re- 
markable growth  in  recent  years,  during 
which  time  a  feeling  of  deep  friendship  has 
developed  between  that  wonderful  race  and 
our  own.  Her  people  have  been  welcomed  to 
all  the  privileges  and  immunities  enjoyed  by 
the  most  favored  nation,  except  that  of  actual 


208  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

citizenship.  The  privileges  of  Americans  re- 
siding in  Japan,  the  number  of  whom  has 
nearly  doubled  in  the  past  decade,  have  cor- 
respondingly increased. 

Our  great  silk  manufactories,  which  employ 
thousands  of  workmen  and  disburse  more 
than  thirty  millions  a  year  in  wages,  have 
drawn  largely  for  their  raw  material  upon 
Japan,  sending  her  nearly  forty  million  dol- 
lars for  raw  silk  in  the  year  just  ended.  In 
turn,  Japan  has  purchased  freely  of  the 
products  of  our  farms  and  factories,  so  that 
our  exports  to  that  country  have  grown  from 
less  than  eight  million  dollars  in  1896  to  more 
than  thirty-eight  millions  in  1906.  In  view  of 
these  flattering  commercial  relations  with  the 
dominant  power  in  the  Far  East,  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  serious  regret  that  recent  incidents  in 
a  single  community  of  this  country — a  com- 
munity which  has  profited  greatly  by  the  en- 
largement of  our  trade  with  Japan — should 
have  endangered  the  cordiality  of  relations 
under  which  that  trade  has  been  developed. 

While  this  occurrence  is  too  recent  to  have 
had  as  yet  a  perceptible  effect  upon  trade  re- 
lations, it  requires  no  stretch  of  imagination 
to  foresee  that  unless  these  deplorable  inci- 


INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONS    209 

dents  are  satisfactorily  adjusted,  they  will 
have  a  disastrous  influence  upon  our  future 
trade  with  that  country.  On  this  subject  the 
President,  in  my  opinion,  voiced  the  sentiment 
of  the  great  mass  of  our  people  when  he  said 
in  his  recent  message  to  Congress : 

Not  only  must  we  treat  all  nations  fairly,  but 
we  must  treat  with  justice  and  good  will  all  immi- 
grants who  come  here  under  the  law.  Whether  they 
are  Catholic  or  Protestant,  Jew  or  Gentile;  whether 
they  come  from  England  or  Germany,  Russia, 
Japan,  or  Italy,  matters  nothing.  All  we  have  a 
right  to  question  is  the  man's  conduct.  If  he  is 
honest  and  upright  in  his  dealings  with  his  neigh- 
bor and  with  the  State,  then  he  is  entitled  to  respect 
and  good  treatment.  Especially  do  we  need  to  re- 
member our  duty  to  the  stranger  within  our  gates. 
It  is  the  sure  mark  of  a  low  civilization,  a  low 
morality,  to  abuse  or  discriminate  against  or  in  any 
way  humiliate  such  stranger  who  has  come  here  law- 
fully and  who  is  conducting  himself  properly.  To 
remember  this  is  incumbent  on  every  American 
citizen,  and  it  is  of  course  peculiarly  incumbent  on 
every  Government  official,  whether  of  the  nation  or 
of  the  several  States. 

International  courtesy  is  as  essential  to 
international  good  will  as  is  a  similar  rela- 
tionship between  individuals,  and  the  conse- 


210  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

quences  in  the  former  case  are  far  more  se- 
rious and  permanent.  The  merchants  and 
manufacturers  of  our  country  can  perform  no 
more  valuable  service  to  the  nation  and  in  the 
promotion  of  our  foreign  commerce  than  in 
strengthening  public  sentiment  to  support  the 
Government  in  cultivating  those  good  relations 
with  other  nations  which  are  so  essential  to 
good  will  and  good  trade  relations. 

And  this  thought,  namely,  that  the  growth 
in  trade  relations  is  attributable,  in  some  de- 
gree at  least,  to  cordiality  of  international  re- 
lationship and  of  relationship  between  our 
own  people  and  those  of  the  nations  with  which 
we  come  into  business  contact,  suggests  that 
the  future  success  of  our  manufacturers  and 
exporters  rests  largely  in  their  own  hands. 

The  Government  can  do  certain  things.  It 
can  maintain,  for  instance,  a  great  Depart- 
ment, such  as  that  of  Commerce  and  Labor ;  it 
can  record  the  movement  of  articles  into  and 
out  of  the  country,  and  the  names  of  the  coun- 
tries from  which  the  imports  come  and  to 
which  the  exports  go ;  it  can  show  the  growth 
in  exports  of  various  articles,  and  the  demand 
in  a  given  country  for  the  same;  it  can  send 
its  consuls  and  special  representatives  to  the 


INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONS    211 

various  nations  of  the  world  to  learn  what 
markets  exist  for  our  goods,  and  how  these 
must  be  made  and  packed  and  sold  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  those  markets ;  but  it  can 
not  bring  to  you  that  close  personal  relation- 
ship with  people  of  these  nations  which  is  so 
essential  if  you  are  to  obtain  the  greatest 
measure  of  success. 

How  have  the  great  manufacturing  and  ex- 
porting nations  of  Europe  obtained  their  suc- 
cess in  the  markets  of  the  world?  By  send- 
ing special  representatives  to  solicit  foreign 
trade,  by  establishing  banking  and  other  fa- 
cilities necessary  therefor,  and  by  cultivating 
and  maintaining  friendly  relations  with  such 
countries.  And  when  I  say  special  repre- 
sentatives, I  mean  men  representing  the  man- 
ufacturer, and  so  familiar  with  his  own 
individual  methods  of  production  and  com- 
merce that  they  can  present  to  him  the  details 
of  the  existing  trade  opportunities  and  the 
processes  to  which  he  must  adapt  his  own  ex- 
isting methods  in  order  to  make  his  goods 
salable  in  the  communities  in  question.  These 
are  things  which  the  Government  can  not  do 
for  you — things  that  you  must  do  for  your- 
selves. 


212  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

The  world's  imports  of  manufactures  now 
aggregate,  in  round  terms,  five  billion  dollars 
in  value,  and  of  that  amount  we  are  at  present 
contributing  but  seven  hundred  millions,  or 
about  fourteen  per  cent.,  although  we  are  the 
world's  greatest  producer  of  all  the  important 
articles  used  in  manufacturing,  such  as  cot- 
ton, iron,  copper,  timber,  and  coal,  the  last  of 
which  furnishes  the  power  necessary  to  trans- 
form the  others  into  the  finished  products. 

We  also  have  the  world's  greatest  system  of 
railways  with  which  to  assemble  these  raw 
materials  and  carry  them  to  the  water's  edge. 
Whether  our  Government  should  aid  in  devel- 
oping a  great  merchant  marine  for  carrying 
these  products,  already  cheaply  transported, 
from  the  water's  edge  to  the  principal  foreign 
markets,  or  whether  such  aid  should  be  con- 
fined to  those  sections  with  which  our  trade 
has  shown  little  development  and  to  which 
foreign  capital  is  offering  us  no  direct  system 
of  transportation,  is  a  matter  yet  to  be  de- 
termined. 

But  certain  it  is  that  whatever  the  Govern- 
ment may  do  in  aid  of  our  foreign  commerce, 
or  in  collecting  general  information  regarding 
trade  opportunities  in  foreign  countries,  the 


INTERNATIONAL  RELATIONS    213 

real  opportunity  of  success  in  those  markets 
rests  with  our  producers  and  exporters,  who  by- 
sending  their  personal  representatives  among 
these  people  will  not  only  obtain  for  them- 
selves the  information  necessary  to  that  trade, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  will  aid  in  developing 
that  international  sentiment  and  close  rela- 
tionship which  have  proved  so  important  a 
factor  in  our  commercial  relations  with  the 
countries  where  our  greatest  success  has  been 
attained. 


XI 

COMMERCE  AND  LABOR 


XI 

COMMERCE  AND  LABOR 

AS  we  survej^  the  history  of  modern  times 
we  can  not  fail  to  distinguish  that  what 
the  Germans  call  the  Zeitgeist,  or  the  aspira- 
tions of  nations,  has  changed  from  period  to 
period.  First,  the  Reformation ;  then  the  long 
and  bloody  years  of  struggle  for  ecclesiastical 
domination  under  political  guise,  or  political 
domination  under  ecclesiastical  guise.  Fol- 
lowing this  period,  and  to  a  large  extent  by 
reason  of  it,  arose  the  hunger  for  conquest  led 
by  ambitious  sovereigns,  and  often  disguised 
so  that  their  most  wicked  schemes  of  spolia- 
tion were  clothed  in  the  garb  of  sanctified 
phrases  of  benevolent  purposes.  This  period 
again  was  followed  by  the  spirit  of  conquest 
pure  and  simple,  under  the  domination  of 
might,  led  by  the  booted  and  spurred  general. 
During  all  these  years  commerce  lacked  both 
opportunity  and  encouragement ;  in  fact,  it  was 
looked  upon  as  the  trade  and  occupation  of  an 
inferior  and  degraded  element  of  the  popula- 

217 


218  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

tion.  Handicrafts,  except  when  they  were  ap- 
plied to  forging  instruments  of  war,  had  lost 
their  dignity,  and  Holland,  which  was  rapidly 
growing  in  power  and  wealth  through  the  ex- 
tension of  her  commerce  over  all  the  seas,  was 
contemptuously  referred  to  by  Louis  XIV  as 
'*a  nation  of  shopkeepers,"  a  term  that,  in  no 
spirit  of  compliment,  was  subsequently  applied 
to  England  and  still  later  to  us. 

The  spirit  of  commerce,  which  is  as  far  re- 
moved from  ''commercialism"  as  patriotism 
is  from  the  spoils  system,  is  the  most  whole- 
some stimulus  that  has  yet  pervaded  the  na- 
tions, because  it  rests  upon  mutuality  and  upon 
economic  laws;  it  is  constructive  and  not  de- 
structive, and  it  promotes  the  welfare  and 
happiness  of  nations,  as  well  as  international 
peace  and  good  will. 

As  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor 
— the  youngest  but  not  the  least  important 
Department  of  our  Government — I  deem  it  no 
less  a  pleasure  than  a  privilege  to  appear  be- 
fore the  great  captains  of  our  industrial  age 
and  country.  I  stand  here  before  a  group  of 
men  who  within  comparatively  a  few  years 
have  brought  the  industries  of  our  country  to 
the  front  rank  of  the  great  manufacturing  na- 


COMMERCE  AND  LABOR         219 

tions.  Less  than  half  a  century  ago  our  na- 
tion ranked  fourth  in  manufactures,  while  to- 
day it  stands  at  the  head  of  the  list.  The  in- 
vestments of  capital  in  these  industries  have 
grown  from  a  billion  dollars  in  1860  to  about 
fourteen  billions  in  1905.  The  wages  and  sal- 
aries paid  have  risen  in  that  period  from  little 
more  than  one-third  of  a  billion  to  more  than 
three  billions,  and  the  value  of  the  manufac- 
tures produced  from  less  than  two  billions  to 
practically  seventeen  billions.  A  group  of 
men  who  have  produced  such  splendid  results 
in  less  than  half  a  century,  and  who  are  to-day 
successfully  managing  a  business  representing 
one-eighth  of  the  entire  wealth  of  the  country, 
giving  employment  to  more  than  six  million 
persons,  representing  more  than  one-fourth 
of  the  homes  of  the  nation,  needs  no  guidance 
from  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor, 
but  merely  the  assurance  of  its  sympathetic 
cooperation,  coupled  with  the  determination 
to  enforce  the  laws  that  guarantee  to  all  inter- 
ests and  to  all  individuals  their  rights  and 
privileges,  and  to  protect  them  from  unjust 
encroachment  on  the  part  of  any  other  inter- 
ests or  individuals. 
Our  total  exports  in  the  fiscal  year  about  to 


220  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

end  will  aggregate  nearly  two  billions  of  dol- 
lars, and  of  that  enormous  sum  more  than 
seven  hundred  millions,  or  about  forty  per 
cent,  of  the  total,  will  be  composed  of  manu- 
factures. In  developing  this  great  industry, 
in  which  such  rapid  strides  have  been  made  in 
comparatively  a  few  years,  we  have  enjoyed 
peculiar  advantages,  in  the  plentiful  supply  of 
materials  furnished  by  nature,  such  as  cotton, 
iron,  copper,  wood,  and  coal,  and  in  our  re- 
markable transportation  facilities.  But  all 
these  would  not  have  enabled  us  to  develop 
such  marvelous  results  were  it  not  for  another 
factor,  equally  important,  namely,  the  brawn 
and  muscle  of  our  laboring  classes,  which  are 
equipped  with  intelligent  skill  by  reason  of  the 
opportunities  afforded  to  rich  and  poor  alike 
in  this  free  and  liberty-loving  land.  While  we 
had  abundance  of  raw  material,  we  have  al- 
ways been  short  in  the  supply  of  labor,  and, 
but  for  the  fact  that  this  need  could  be  sup- 
plied from  beyond  our  borders,  our  industries 
would  to-day  be  in  their  infant  stage. 

We  should  not  fail  to  recognize  the  enor- 
mous advantages  we  have  drawn  from  immi- 
gration. Twenty-five  million  willing  workers 
have  come  to  the  United  States  to  cooperate 


COMMERCE  AND  LABOR  221 

in  our  industries  during  the  past  century,  and 
more  tlian  half  of  the  persons  to-day  engaged 
in  our  manufacturing  and  mechanical  indus- 
tries are  of  alien  birth  or  natives  of  alien  par- 
entage. The  census  of  1900  shows  that  more 
than  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  persons  so  engaged 
in  that  year  were  of  foreign  birth,  and  in  ad- 
dition twenty-five  per  cent,  were  natives  of 
foreign  parentage — so  large  has  been  the  draft 
that  we  have  made  upon  other  nations  in  build- 
ing up  our  great  manufacturing  industries. 

Another  consideration  should  not  be  lost 
sight  of.  Not  only  have  we  attracted  this 
large  and  needful  supply  of  labor,  but  with 
them  have  come  hundreds  of  new  industries 
from  other  countries,  which  their  skill  has 
planted  and  their  industry  has  developed.  As 
an  example  of  many,  let  us  take  the  silk  in- 
dustry, now  ranking  among  the  first  in  the 
world,  employing  eighty  thousand  workmen, 
paying  twenty-seven  million  dollars  annually 
for  wages,  and  bringing  in  each  year  sixty 
million  dollars'  worth  of  raw  materials  from 
Japan  and  elsewhere,  and  turning  out  annually 
from  its  factories  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  million  dollars'  worth  of  finished  prod- 
ucts.   The  same  may  be  said  of  the  cotton-mill 


222  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

industry,  whicli  only  a  little  more  than  a  cen- 
tury ago  was  established  by  the  Englishman 
Samuel  Slater,  and  so  was  the  first  wool-card- 
ing machinery  by  Arthur  Scofield.  The  con- 
fectionery industry,  which  now  turns  out 
nearly  one  hundred  million  dollars'  worth  of 
products  from  its  factories  annually,  and  pays 
twelve  million  dollars  a  year  for  wages,  was 
largely,  if  not  entirely,  developed  by  men  of 
foreign  birth;  and  so  was  the  glass  cutting 
and  staining  industry,  which  turns  out  prod- 
ucts amounting  to  more  than  thirteen  millions 
a  year  and  pays  four  and  a  half  millions  a  year 
in  wages  to  its  employees.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  many  other  of  our  industries,  not  a  few 
of  which  have  been  brought  over  in  more  re- 
cent years  by  immigrants  who  come  from 
countries  that  are  often  characterized  as  the 
undesirable.  Our  census  shows  that  those 
sections  of  our  country  which  contain  the 
largest  percentage  of  foreign  birth  are  found 
to  contain  also  the  largest  percentage  of  man- 
ufacturing industries. 

An  unprejudiced  study  of  immigration  justi- 
fies me  in  saying  that  the  evils  are  temporary 
and  local,  while  the  benefits  are  permanent  and 
national.    The   flow   of   immigration   to   our 


COMMERCE  AND  LABOR         223 

shores  is  not  alone  an  index  of  our  prosperity, 
but  also  a  significant  element  of  tlie  causes  of 
our  prosperity.  Had  the  anti-foreign  or 
** Know-Nothing"  spirit  prevailed  half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  the  energy  and  enterprises  that  have 
produced  our  great  manufacturing  and  com- 
mercial development  would  have  been  driven 
to  other  lands.  The  restrictions  that  have 
been  incorporated  in  our  laws,  due  to  the  con- 
servative judgment  of  the  members  of  our  last 
Congress,  are  salutary  and  wise.  So  was  the 
law  that  raised  the  standard  for  acquisition  of 
the  high  privileges  of  American  citizenship, 
by  demanding  that  no  one  shall  be  naturalized 
who  is  unable  to  speak  and  understand  our 
language,  or  has  not  an  elementary  knowledge 
of  our  Constitution  and  form  of  government. 
This  law  and  the  immigration  laws  are  in- 
trusted for  their  administration  to  the  De- 
partment of  Commerce  and  Labor;  and  you 
may  be  assured  they  will  be  administered  by 
me  and  I  hope  they  will  always  be  administered 
equitably  and  justly,  in  the  true  American 
spirit,  with  good  will  to  all  and  with  malice 
toward  none. 

The  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  is 
one  of  the  largest  of  our  great  governmental 


224         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

Departments.  It  touches  the  national  life  in 
so  many  aspects  that  I  can  not  here  refer  to 
more  than  one  or  two  spheres  of  its  activity. 
As  its  name  implies,  it  has  to  do  with  com- 
merce and  with  labor  in  their  broadest  accepta- 
tion. It  has  under  its  jurisdiction,  besides 
immigration  and  naturalization,  almost  the  en- 
tire economic  spheres  of  the  Government — 
with  the  exception  of  the  tariff  and  monetary 
affairs — such  as  the  fisheries,  steamboat-in- 
spection and  light-houses,  labor  in  all  its  as- 
pects, coasts,  harbors  and  shipping,  standards, 
manufactures  and  corporations,  statistics  and 
the  census. 

A  word  about  the  relations  of  the  Depart- 
ment to  corporations.  Due  to  the  extraor- 
dinary commercial  development  to  which  1 
have  just  referred,  and  to  the  commercial 
forces  which  in  the  past  half  century,  in  the 
natural  course  of  development,  have  brought 
about  a  tremendous  concentration  of  capital, 
the  old  legal  methods  of  individual  and  part- 
nership management  were  wholly  inadequate, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  employ  that  artificial 
legal  entity  known  as  a  corporation,  in  order 
properly  to  handle  this  concentration  of  cap- 
ital, which  is  so  necessary  to  carry  out  the 


COMMERCE  AND  LABOR         225 

work  of  developing  the  physical  resources  of 
our  country.  The  growth  of  this  industrial 
development  has  been  more  rapid  under  the 
pressure  of  the  promoter  and  the  financier 
than  the  development  and  adjustment  of  the 
laws  that  are  necessary  to  guard  the  interests 
of  the  individual  investor  as  well  as  the  rights 
and  interests  of  competing  industries  and  of 
the  general  public.  By  reason  also  of  this  rapid 
development  toward  attaining  industrial  su- 
premacy, the  old  personal  responsibility  that 
obtained  when  business  was  managed  by  indi- 
viduals or  by  partnerships,  has  been  almost 
wholly  sacrificed.  This  loss  of  responsibility 
is  a  very  important  factor,  and  doubtless  ex- 
plains many  present  evils.  Perhaps  no  rem- 
edy will  be  more  effective,  in  its  first  and  pri- 
mary stages,  to  eliminate  the  evils  that  flow 
from  this  lack  of  personal  responsibility  and 
to  restore  the  equivalent  for  it  than  to  insure 
publicity — not  superficial  publicity,  but  thor- 
ough and  drastic  publicity,  which  can  be  had 
only  through  governmental  agency.  This  is 
one  of  the  main  functions  of  the  Bureau  of 
Corporations.  The  striking  effects  of  pub- 
licity may  be  best  illustrated  by  the  work  of 
this  Bureau  in  a  single  instance.    The  simple 


226  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

publication  by  the  Bureau  of  Corporations, 
after  painstaking  and  laborious  investigation, 
of  the  great  system  of  railway  rebates  that 
were  enjoyed,  sometimes  by  favor  and  some- 
times by  force,  by  the  Standard  Oil  Company, 
was  followed  at  once  by  the  voluntary  cancel- 
lation by  the  railroads,  without  the  issue  of  a 
single  court  process,  of  every  secret  discrimi- 
natory rate  set  forth  in  the  report  of  the  Bu- 
reau. The  result  of  this  probably  has  been 
the  most  sweeping  reform,  and  certainly  the 
most  necessary,  that  ever  has  taken  place  in 
railway  management. 

Regarding  the  combination  of  power,  in 
respect  to  which  so  much  misinformation  has 
gone  abroad  throughout  the  land,  let  me  say 
a  word.  It  is  not  the  existence  of  this  com- 
bination of  power,  but  the  improper  use  of 
such  power,  that  should  be  regulated.  Combi- 
nation is  not  in  itself  an  evil.  The  methods 
by  which  a  combination  is  arrived  at,  or  by 
which  it  is  maintained  or  operated,  if  those 
methods  are  inequitable  or  unfair,  should  not 
only  be  exposed,  but  should  be  drastically 
dealt  with.  A  corporation  desiring  to  per- 
petuate its  domination  may  use  its  combina- 
tion power  to  give  better  service — that  is  a 


COMMERCE  AND  LABOR  227 

public  good — but  when  that  power  is  used  to 
prevent  any  one  else  from  giving  a  like  service 
or  the  best  service  it  can,  then  its  combination 
power  is  being  used  as  an  encroachment  upon 
the  rights  of  others  and  against  the  public  wel- 
fare. It  is  not  within  the  power  or  proper 
sphere  of  government  to  equalize  competitors, 
but  it  is  within  the  power  and  proper  sphere 
of  government  to  equalize  the  opportunities  of 
competitors.  It  is  the  sphere  of  government 
to  keep  open  equally  to  all  men  the  avenues  of 
commercial  development,  to  maintain  the  op- 
portunity for  competition,  and  to  prevent  the 
use  of  unfair  means  that  diminish  or  destroy 
such  equal  opportunity. 

Most  of  the  strife  between  capital  and  labor 
would  disappear  if  it  were  more  fully  recog- 
nized that  a  high  rate  of  wages,  within  eco- 
nomic limitations,  is  a  powerful  lever  to  reach 
a  low  cost  of  production,  which  practically 
rules  to-day  in  the  industries  of  the  United 
States.  I  hope  that  another  year  you  will 
have  with  you  at  your  annual  festivities  a  rep- 
resentation of  the  great  labor  groups  who 
rightly  share  with  you  the  credit  for  our  won- 
derful industrial  development;  who  have 
shared  and  are  entitled  to  share  more  and 


228  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

more  with  you,  according  to  the  measure  of 
their  deserts,  the  prosperity  that  has  crowned 
your  and  their  joint  labors.  In  no  country  in 
the  world  are  the  standard  of  labor  and  the 
standard  of  life  among  the  wage-earning 
classes  higher,  and  I  hope  the  country  may 
have  your  aid  and  cooperation  in  hastening 
the  day  when  the  honest  individual  will  be 
permitted  more  and  more  to  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  constant  industry  and  the  advantages  of  his 
own  labor,  free  alike  from  the  tyranny  of  his 
own  class  and  of  the  inequitable  exactions  of 
the  employer  class.  The  cheapest  labor  is 
that  labor  which  is  most  productive,  ''and  the 
more  the  forces  of  cultivated  intelligence,  con- 
scientiousness, and  hopefulness  shall  infuse 
themselves  into  human  industry,  the  more 
abundant  and  valuable  the  results,  the  greater 
the  sum  of  human  happiness,  and  the  more 
stable  the  political  institutions  of  a  country."  * 
No  greater,  more  important,  and  vital  ques- 
tion has  ever  come  forward  for  solution  than 
the  relation  between  capital  and  labor.  It  is 
to-day  agitating  the  parliaments  of  all  enlight- 
ened nations,  and  is  receiving  the  thoughtful 

1  Thomas   F.    Bayard's   introduction  to   "The  Economy  of 
High  Wages,"  by  J.  Schoenhof, 


COMMERCE  AND  LABOR         229 

attention  of  statesmen  and  legislators,  who 
recognized  that  the  plane  of  solution  lies  high 
above  the  narrow  pathways  of  selfish  interest. 
No  one  has  addressed  himself  to  this  great 
and  pressing  subject  with  more  philosophical 
foresight  and  practical  application,  and  with 
a  more  fearless  espousal  of  the  right,  than 
President  Roosevelt.  His  messages  to  Con- 
gress, his  public  speeches,  and  his  advocacy 
of  the  passage  of  laws,  all  evidence  a  wise, 
consistent,  and  determined  plan  to  safeguard 
the  rights  of  capital  on  the  one  side  and  to  re- 
dress the  justified  grievances  of  the  masses 
on  the  other,  and  to  use  the  full  power  of  the 
Government,  without  fear  and  without  favor, 
to  prevent  injustice  on  the  one  side  as  well 
as  on  the  other.  The  work  of  the  Department 
of  Commerce  and  Labor  has  been  conditioned 
upon  this  theory — a  fair  treatment  alike  for 
labor  and  for  capital. 


XII 

THE  PEACE  OF  NATIONS  AND  PEACE 
WITHIN  NATIONS 


XII 

THE  PEACE  OF  NATIONS  AND  PEACE 
WITHIN  NATIONS 

NATIONS,  like  individuals,  pass  through 
stages  of  development,  and  each  stage  of 
that  development  is  characterized  by  different 
and  often  varying  aspirations.  Beginning 
with  modern  times,  with  the  Reformation,  the 
nations  were  held  under  the  spell  of  ecclesias- 
tical domination,  which  produced  the  so-called 
religious  wars  that  culminated  with  the  Thirty 
Years'  War  and  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia. 
This  was  followed  by  the  hunger  for  power, 
which  rose  to  its  height  under  the  infuriated 
heroism  of  the  Napoleonic  wars ;  after  this  fol- 
lowed the  period  of  industrialism  and  trade- 
expansion,  at  the  height  of  which  we  now  find 
ourselves.  This  last  period,  which  has  wit- 
nessed the  development  of  great  industrial 
combinations,  has  also  witnessed  the  develop- 
ment of  the  powers  of  the  wage-earners  under 
organized  labor.    This  development,  to  which 

233 


23'4  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  most  advanced  nations  of  the  world  owe 
the  wonderful  growth  of  their  material  pros- 
perity, brings  with  it  many  advantages,  but 
it  also  brings  serious  dangers,  which,  if  not 
regulated  by  humane  considerations  and  by 
the  spirit  of  equity  and  justice,  threaten  the 
most  serious  class  conflicts. 

Unrest  and  dissatisfaction  at  home  breed  an- 
tagonisms abroad.  A  nation  that  is  happy 
and  contented  within  its  borders  is  never  a 
menace  to  neighboring  nations.  Its  chief  dan- 
ger lies  in  not  being  able  to  protect  itself 
against  the  discontent  of  other  nations,  and 
nothing  contributes  more  to  peace  abroad  than 
peace  at  home.  Often  has  a  nation  gone  to 
war,  or  been  driven  into  it,  by  reason  of  in- 
ternal discontent,  compelling  it,  as  it  were,  to 
choose  war  without  as  the  lesser  evil,  in  order 
to  avert  revolution  within  its  borders. 

On  the  10th  of  December  last  the  committee 
elected  by  the  Norwegian  Storthing,  under  the 
will  of  Alfred  Bemhard  Nobel,  for  the  distri- 
bution of  the  Peace  Prize  *'to  be  awarded  to 
the  person  who  shall  have  most  or  best  pro- 
moted the  fraternity  of  nations  and  the  abol- 
ishment or  diminution  of  standing  armies  and 
the   formation    and   increase    of   peace   con- 


THE  PEACE  OF  NATIONS        235 

gresses,"  selected  as  its  recipient  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  President  of  the  United  States ;  and 
the  people  throughout  this  country  and  from 
one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other  applauded 
the  selection.  They  recognized  that  he  first, 
among  presidents,  kings,  and  emperors,  opened 
the  doors  of  the  Hague  Tribunal;  that  he, 
through  his  tactful  initiative  and  mediation, 
brought  about  peace  between  Japan  and  Rus- 
sia; and  that  he  was  the  first  to  summon  the 
second  great  peace  congress,  and  in  the  inter- 
est of  international  good  will  resigned  the 
high  privilege  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia.  By 
these  separate  acts  he  thrice  deserved  the 
gratitude  of  the  peace-loving  world  and  thrice 
justified  the  award  of  the  Storthing. 

Fully  as  important  as  peace  among  nations 
is  peace  within  nations.  A  people  who  are 
subjected  to  unreasonable  restrictions  upon 
**life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,'* 
and  are  compelled  to  live  under  such  condi- 
tions that  they  can  not  earn  their  daily  bread, 
become  revolutionary.  He  who  had  inter- 
vened and  brought  about  an  equitable  adjust- 
ment in  the  greatest  industrial  struggle  of 
modern  times — the  anthracite-coal  strike — 
dedicated  the  Nobel  Peace  Prize  to  the  promo- 


236  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

tion  of  industrial  peace,  and  by  an  act  of  Con- 
gress approved  on  the  2nd  of  March  last  this 
Foundation  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial 
Peace  was  made  perpetual,  with  the  purpose 
of  aiding  the  industrial  forces  to  arrive  at  a 
peaceful  adjustment  of  their  reciprocal  rights 
on  a  basis  of  humanity  and  justice.  In  The- 
odore Roosevelt  are  united  the  historical  fore- 
sight of  a  Jefferson  and  the  humane  consider- 
ation of  a  Lincoln  for  the  welfare  of  the 
masses.  He  is  ever  as  watchful  to  protect  the 
poor  man  as  well  as  the  rich  man  in  his  rights 
as  he  is  to  restrain  them  from  committing 
wrong. 

The  growth  of  commerce  and  industry  which 
marks  our  industrial  age  has  contributed  tre- 
mendously to  the  community  of  nations.  The 
much  decried  commercial  spirit  is  the  surest 
guaranty  for  peace.  Before  its  development 
the  panoplied  statesmen  believed  that  the 
weaker  and  poorer  other  countries  were  the 
stronger  and  mightier  would  be  their  own ;  but 
the  economics  of  commerce  have  shown  that 
the  wealth  and  progress  of  other  lands  are  a 
direct  source  of  wealth  and  progress  of  one's 
own  land. 

The  wealth  and  happiness  of  nations  are 


THE  PEACE  OF  NATIONS         237 

based  upon  factors  that  are  international  as 
well  as  intranational ;  in  other  words,  they  de- 
pend not  only  upon  domestic  commerce,  but 
also  and  to  an  equal  degree  upon  foreign  com- 
merce. As  an  illustration,  we  have  only  to 
take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  within  the 
past  fifty  years  the  foreign  commerce  of  the 
United  States  has  grown  more  than  400  per 
cent.— from  783  millions  in  1856  to  2,636  mil- 
lions in  1905. 

Quite  as  important  as  the  limitation  of  arm- 
aments is  the  raising  of  the  standards  of  in- 
ternational morality.  Let  the  nations  exact 
the  same  standard  from  one  another  that  they 
exact  from  their  own  subjects,  substituting  in- 
ternational morality  for  international  expedi- 
ency, and  they  will  have,  instead  of  the 
arbitrament  of  war,  the  arbitrament  of  law. 
The  first  step  to  this  end  is  to  improve  and  ex- 
pand the  laws  of  neutral  obligations.  Why 
should  a  nation  be  permitted  to  go  to  war  to 
collect  a  debt  at  the  mouth  of  cannon  when 
that  same  nation  will  not  allow  its  own  sub- 
jects to  collect  debts  from  one  another  with 
swords  and  pistols'?  The  Drago  Doctrine  is 
in  the  interest  of  international  morality.  The 
casuistry    of    international    pettifogism    has 


238  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

whittled  down  the  principles  of  international 
law.     Neutral  rights  have  been  expanded  in 
the  interest  of  greed,  and  neutral  obligations 
have  been  cramped  and  distorted,  so  that,  as 
the  law  stands  now,  neutral  nations  may  not 
sell  ships  of  war  and  arms  to  belligerents,  but 
the  subjects   of  neutral  nations  may  do  so. 
Neutral  nations  may  not  grant  loans  and  sub- 
sidies to  belligerents,  but  the  banker  subjects 
of  neutral  nations  may  do  so.     The  doctrine 
recognized  under  all  systems  of  law,  facit  per 
alia  facit  per  se,  does  not  apply  to  interna- 
tional  relations,   because   international    rela- 
tions still  carry  the  taint  of  unmoral  prece- 
dents and  piratical  plunder. 

''The  true  end  of  every  great  and  free 
people  should  be  self-respecting  peace.  .  .  . 
Probably  no  other  great  nation  of  the  world  is 
so  anxious  for  peace  as  we  are."  These  are 
the  sentiments  of  President  Roosevelt  in  his 
message  to  the  Fifty-seventh  Congress.  The 
argument  that  war  will  kill  war  is  about  as 
sane  as  would  be  the  assertion  that  contagion 
will  cure  disease.  The  best  guarantee  for 
peace  is  peace;  and  behind  the  world's  diplo- 
macy stands  ever  open  the  door  of  the  Hague 
Tribunal,     whose     permanent     mission — the 


THE  PEACE  OF  NATIONS        239 

peaceful  adjustment  of  international  differ- 
ences— can  not  fail  to  have  an  ever-increasing 
voice  in  the  chancelries  of  nations  and  in  ele- 
vating the  international  morality  of  the  civil- 
ized world. 


XIII 

RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 


XIII 

EELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

THIS  is  an  historical  occasion,  a  link  in  the 
chain  of  development  of  our  country's  his- 
tory; it  takes  us  back  within  fifteen  years  of  the 
death  of  the  founder  of  the  colony,  which  was 
the  youngest,  and  in  many  respects  the  no- 
blest in  its  foundation,  of  the  thirteen  Amer- 
ican colonies. 

In  this,  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury, we  have  come  upon  a  new  era  which  is 
the  heritor  of  all  the  past.  The  inalienable 
rights  of  man,  which  were  formulated  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  and  which  were  incorpo- 
rated in  fundamental  laws  and  practically  ap- 
plied under  legislative  enactments,  have 
reached  a  further  stage,  the  stage  of  inalien- 
able duties.  The  duty  that  might  owes  to 
right,  the  rich  to  the  poor,  the  employer  to 
the  employee,  to  afford  equal  opportunities  to 
all,  freed  from  artificial  barriers,  from  class 

243 


244  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

distinctions  and  from  religious  proscriptions. 
No  institutions  have  contributed  more  toward 
equalizing  those  opportunities  and  toward  en- 
dowing the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  wage- 
earners  equally  with  those  of  wage-payers, 
than  the  institutions  of  education  in  our  land. 
They  are  the  great  levelers,  in  the  sense  of 
making  the  pathway  of  success  not  a  royal 
road,  but  a  democratic  highway,  where  the  re- 
wards wait  upon  merit. 

The  three  greatest,  most  visioned,  and  pic- 
turesque founders  of  the  colonies  that  became 
the  thirteen  original  States  were,  Roger  "Wil- 
liams, the  Pioneer  of  religious  liberty,  William 
Penn,  the  Proprietor  of  peace  and  good-will, 
and  General  James  Edward  Oglethorpe,  the 
benevolent  Apostle  of  equal  opportunity  and 
philanthropy,  who  founded  Georgia  to  open 
the  gates  of  freedom  to  the  unfortunate 
debtor,  which  gates  he  kept  wide  open  to  re- 
ceive the  oppressed  from  every  land,  and  held 
firmly  closed  against  every  form  of  persecution 
and  slavery.  To  his  colony  came  not  alone 
the  unfortunate  debtors  who  by  thousands 
were  yearly  confined  to  the  pest-breeding 
dungeons  of  Fleet  prison,  Newgate,  and  Old 
Bailey,  but  also  the  poor  persecuted  Salzbur- 


EELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  245 

gers,  and  some  of  the  ill-fated  Jews  who  had 
escaped  the  fangs  and  fires  of  the  Inquisition 
in  Spain  and  Portugal.  Oglethorpe  placed  a 
most  liberal  construction  upon  his  charter,  be- 
yond the  tenor  of  its  provisions  and  the  in- 
structions of  the  trustees.  Having  made  per- 
sonal sacrifices  to  establish  and  organize  the 
colony,  he  felt  Justified  in  following  the  dic- 
tates of  his  benevolent  purposes  by  removing 
all  restrictions;  he  extended  a  welcome  to  all 
men  irrespective  of  creed  or  race,  and  assigned 
to  them  lands  and  secured  them  in  the  price- 
less blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

Georgia  was  not  alone  the  colony  of  refuge, 
but  the  rampart  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization 
against  French  hostility  on  the  one  side,  and 
on  the  other  against  intolerant  Spain,  which 
had  desecrated  this  Continent  by  transplant- 
ing here  the  horrors  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
endeavored  to  propagate  her  power  by  arous- 
ing the  savagery  of  the  peaceful  Indians 
against  the  new  settlers.  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his 
beautiful  lines,  doubtless  refers  to  the  dual 
purposes  in  Georgia's  foundation: 

Has  heaven  reserved,  in  pity  to  the  poor, 
No  pathless  waste,  or  undiscovered  shore, 
No  secret  island  in  the  boundless  main, 


244  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

distinctions  and  from  religious  proscriptions. 
No  institutions  have  contributed  more  toward 
equalizing  those  opportunities  and  toward  en- 
dowing the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  wage- 
earners  equally  with  those  of  wage-payers, 
than  the  institutions  of  education  in  our  land. 
They  are  the  great  levelers,  in  the  sense  of 
making  the  pathway  of  success  not  a  royal 
road,  but  a  democratic  highway,  where  the  re- 
wards wait  upon  merit. 

The  three  greatest,  most  visioned,  and  pic- 
turesque founders  of  the  colonies  that  became 
the  thirteen  original  States  were,  Roger  "Wil- 
liams, the  Pioneer  of  religious  liberty,  William 
Penn,  the  Proprietor  of  peace  and  good-will, 
and  General  James  Edward  Oglethorpe,  the 
benevolent  Apostle  of  equal  opportunity  and 
philanthropy,  who  founded  Georgia  to  open 
the  gates  of  freedom  to  the  unfortunate 
debtor,  which  gates  he  kept  wide  open  to  re- 
ceive the  oppressed  from  every  land,  and  held 
firmly  closed  against  every  form  of  persecution 
and  slavery.  To  his  colony  came  not  alone 
the  unfortunate  debtors  who  by  thousands 
were  yearly  confined  to  the  pest-breeding 
dungeons  of  Fleet  prison,  Newgate,  and  Old 
Bailey,  but  also  the  poor  persecuted  Salzbur- 


EELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  245 

gers,  and  some  of  the  ill-fated  Jews  who  had 
escaped  the  fangs  and  fires  of  the  Inquisition 
in  Spain  and  Portugal.  Oglethorpe  placed  a 
most  liberal  construction  upon  his  charter,  be- 
yond the  tenor  of  its  provisions  and  the  in- 
structions of  the  trustees.  Having  made  per- 
sonal sacrifices  to  establish  and  organize  the 
colony,  he  felt  justified  in  following  the  dic- 
tates of  his  benevolent  purposes  by  removing 
all  restrictions;  he  extended  a  welcome  to  all 
men  irrespective  of  creed  or  race,  and  assigned 
to  them  lands  and  secured  them  in  the  price- 
less blessings  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

Georgia  was  not  alone  the  colony  of  refuge, 
but  the  rampart  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization 
against  French  hostility  on  the  one  side,  and 
on  the  other  against  intolerant  Spain,  which 
had  desecrated  this  Continent  by  transplant- 
ing here  the  horrors  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
endeavored  to  propagate  her  power  by  arous- 
ing the  savagery  of  the  peaceful  Indians 
against  the  new  settlers.  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his 
beautiful  lines,  doubtless  refers  to  the  dual 
purposes  in  Georgia's  foundation: 

Has  heaven  reserved,  in  pity  to  the  poor, 
No  pathless  waste,  or  undiscovered  shore, 
No  secret  island  in  the  boundless  main, 


246  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

No  peaceful  desert  yet  unclaimed  by  Spain? 
Quick  let  us  rise,  the  happy  seat  explore, 
And  bear  oppression's  insolence  no  more. 

It  is  to  be  remarked  that  these  three  foun- 
ders, who  in  their  benevolence  and  liberality 
had  so  many  points  of  resemblance,  were  ex- 
ceptional also  in  cultivating  peaceful  rela- 
tions with  the  neighboring  Indian  tribes,  and 
in  receiving  aid  and  protection  from  them. 
The  fact  is,  the  same  spirit  of  justice  and 
benevolence  which  these  founders  engrafted 
upon  their  original  settlements  were  extended 
to  the  Red  Man,  whose  rights  were  respected, 
and  whose  claims  to  human  justice  were  rec- 
ognized. In  our  dealings  with  this  pictur- 
esque people,  how  much  more  glorious  are 
our  victories  of  peace  than  our  victories  of 
slaughter,  and  what  a  flood  of  light  they  shed 
upon  the  noble  character  and  enlightened  pur- 
poses of  these  immortal  founders  of  Rhode 
Island,  Pennsylvania,  and  Georgia. 

In  1890  a  bill  was  introduced  in  your  legis- 
lature to  discontinue  the  annual  State  grant  to 
the  University,  based  upon  the  theory,  as 
stated  by  the  mover  of  that  bill,  "that  there 
was  no  longer  any  use  for  the  University ;  that 
there  were  plenty  of  denominational  colleges 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  247 

in  Georgia  to  educate  all  our  young  men,  and 
they  should  be  allowed  to  do  that  work. ' '  The 
discussion  that  followed  this  proposal  gave 
rise  to  a  controversy,  which  brought  up  the 
subject  of  the  Development  of  religious  liberty 
in  the  United  States,  and  the  position  of  the 
University  was  most  ably,  learnedly,  and  suc- 
cessfully sustained  by  N.  J.  Hammond,  then 
the  chairman  of  your  Board  of  Trustees. 
Taking  as  my  theme  the  one  suggested  by  this 
discussion,  I  shall  endeavor  to  trace  in  outline 
the  development  of  religious  liberty  in  the 
United  States. 

Colonization  in  all  ages  was  due  either  to 
conquest,  to  commerce,  or  to  causes  of  con- 
science. The  vast  extension  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  empires  under  Alexander  and  Caesar 
arose  out  of  the  first  of  these  causes.  The 
great  power  of  the  Venetian  republic  in  the 
thirteenth  century  was  owing  to  its  commer- 
cial spirit.  The  early  colonization  of  North 
America  is  chiefly  to  be  attributed  to  causes 
of  conscience.  Persecution  has  ever  been  an 
active  colonizer,  and  has  usually  supplied  an 
element  well  adapted  for  the  purpose  of  build- 
ing up  a  cultured  and  enlightened  community. 
In  every  age  it  was  not  the  worst,  but,  accord- 


248  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ing  to  the  real  measure  of  worth,  rather  the 
best  among  a  people,  who,  true  to  their  con- 
sciences, sacrificed  their  temporal  advantages 
upon  the  altar  of  their  faith. 

The  cradle  of  religious  liberty  has  been 
rocked  by  the  worst  passions  of  mankind. 
Until  comparatively  recent  times,  every  sect 
was  intolerant  from  conviction,  and  held  it  as 
a  sacred  duty  to  banish  or  burn  the  unrepent- 
ant heretics.  Even  heretics,  when  they  be- 
came dominant,  were  not  less  intolerant  to- 
ward their  former  orthodox  persecutors.  Do 
unto  others  as  others  have  done  unto  you,  was 
the  rule  of  persecutors;  or,  as  David  Harum 
says,  'Mo  unto  the  other  feller  the  way  he  'd 
like  to  do  unto  you — and  do  it  fust."  The 
stigma  of  heresy,  whatever  it  may  signify 
ecclesiastically,  was  historically  the  penalty 
for  dissent  exacted  by  the  State  religion  from 
conscientious  sectaries.  ''I  never  knew  the 
time  in  England,"  said  Milton,  ''when  men  of 
truest  religion  were  not  counted  sectaries." 
The  statesmen  who  framed  our  Constitution 
were  too  well  read  in  the  history  of  other  gov- 
ernments, and  had  before  them  too  clearly  the 
sufferings  of  the  people  in  their  colonial  state, 
not  to  anticipate  and  dread  the  abuse  of  au- 


EELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  249 

thority  resulting  from  the  greed  of  power  and 
the  selfishness  of  sects,  therefore  they  wisely 
guarded  against  this  contingency  by  express 
enactment  that  ''No  religious  test  shall  ever 
be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  or 
public  trust  under  the  United  States." 

When  the  Constitution  was  submitted  for 
ratification  to  the  several  States,  considerable 
uneasiness  was  manifested  at  the  failure  of 
Pinckney's  resolution  in  the  Federal  Con- 
vention that  ''The  Legislature  of  the  United 
States  shall  pass  no  law  on  the  subject  of  re- 
ligion;" and  upon  ratifying  the  instrument, 
the  New  Hampshire,  New  York,  and  Virginia 
conventions  urged  the  adoption  of  an  amend- 
ment to  that  effect. 

The  conventions  of  the  several  States  that 
were  held  in  1777  and  in  1778  reflected  the 
conflicting  sentiments  then  entertained  on  the 
question  of  religious  tests.  The  exclusion  of 
such  tests  as  a  qualification  for  public  office 
was  opposed  in  those  States  which  required 
such  tests,  under  the  fear  that  without  them 
the  Federal  Government  "might  pass  into  the 
hands  of  Roman  Catholics,  Jews,  or  infidels." 
It  was  alleged  that,  as  the  Constitution  stood, 
the  Pope  of  Rome  might  become  President  of 


250         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  .United  States,  and  a  pamphlet  setting 
forth  that  objection  was  circulated.  In  the 
North  Carolina  Constitutional  Convention, 
James  Iredell,  who  was  the  leader  of  the  Fed- 
eralists, and  was  afterward  by  President 
Washington  appointed  a  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  referring  to  the  subject,  said: 
'*I  met  by  accident  with  a  pamphlet  this  morn- 
ing, in  which  the  author  states  there  is  a  very 
serious  danger  that  the  Pope  might  be  elected 
President,  I  confess  this  never  struck  me  be- 
fore, and  if  the  author  had  read  all  the  qualifi- 
cations of  a  President,  perhaps  his  fear  might 
have  been  quieted.  No  man  but  a  native,  or 
who  has  resided  fourteen  years  in  America, 
can  be  chosen  President.  I  know  not  all  the 
qualifications  for  Pope,  but  I  believe  he  must 
be  taken  from  the  College  of  Cardinals,  and 
probably  there  are  many  previous  steps  neces- 
sary before  he  arrives  at  this  dignity.  A  na- 
tive American  must  have  very  singular  good 
fortune  who,  after  residing  fourteen  years  in 
his  own  country,  should  come  to  Europe,  en- 
ter Romish  orders,  obtain  the  promotion  of 
cardinal,  afterward  that  of  Pope,  and  at 
length  be  so  much  in  the  confidence  of  his  coun- 
try as  to  be  elected  President.    It  would  be 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  251 

still  more  extraordinary  if  he  should  give  up 
Ms  popedom  for  our  presidency." 

On  the  other  hand,  while  several  States 
adopted  the  Constitution,  the  majority  in  their 
respective  conventions  had  the  apprehension 
that  this  clause  of  the  Constitution  did  not  go 
far  enough,  and  therefore  they  proposed 
amendments  guaranteeing  religious  freedom 
and  other  fundamental  rights.  The  strongest 
opposition  to  the  abolition  of  religious  tests 
was  in  Massachusetts,  where  the  Congrega- 
tional was  the  established  church;  while  the 
greatest  apprehension  that  the  exclusion  of  re- 
ligious tests,  as  contained  in  the  Constitution, 
was  insufficient,  and  that  a  more  explicit  guar- 
antee against  the  establishment  of  religion  was 
demanded,  was  in  Virginia  and  Rhode  Island. 
The  first  Congress  of  the  United  States  under 
the  Constitution  met  in  the  City  of  New 
York  on  April  6th,  1789.  In  the  session  of 
June  8th,  the  House  of  Representatives,  on 
motion  of  James  Madison  of  Virginia,  took 
into  consideration  the  various  amendments  to 
the  Federal  Constitution  that  were  suggested 
and  desired  by  several  of  the  States.  Madi- 
son moved  the  appointment  of  a  select 
committee  to  report  preliminary  amendments, 


252  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

and  supported  the  motion  by  a  forcible  speech, 
urging  as  a  reason  chiefly  the  duty  of  Con- 
gress to  remove  all  apprehensions  of  an  inten- 
tion to  deprive  the  people  *'of  the  liberty  for 
which  they  valiantly  fought  and  honorably 
bled."  Congress  accordingly  sent  twelve 
amendments  to  the  Legislatures  of  the  several 
States  for  ratification,  and  ten  of  these  were 
duly  ratified.  The  first  is  the  clause,  **  Con- 
gress shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  estab- 
lishment of  religion  or  prohibiting  the  free  ex- 
ercise thereof." 

Brief  as  these  two  provisions  of  our  Consti- 
tution are,  they  proclaim  religious  liberty  in 
its  broadest  acceptation  as  the  fundamental 
right  of  every  one  in  America,  be  he  citizen  or 
alien.  By  incorporating  these  provisions  in 
their  Constitution,  the  American  people  were 
the  first  to  set  the  world  the  example  of  en- 
tirely separating  the  institution  which  has  for 
its  object  the  support  of  religion  from  its  po- 
litical government. 

Before  the  Revolution  the  dominant  sects  in 
the  various  colonies  were  distributed  as  fol- 
lows :  The  Puritans  in  Massachusetts,  the  Bap- 
tists in  Rhode  Island,  the  Congregationalists 
in  Connecticut;  the  Dutch  and  Swedish  Prot- 


EELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  253 

estants  in  New  Jersey;  the  Anglicans  in  New 
York;  the  Quakers  in  Pennsylvania;  the 
Catholics  in  Baltimore ;  the  Cavaliers  in  Vir- 
ginia; the  Baptists,  Methodists,  Quakers,  and 
Presbyterians  in  North  Carolina;  the  Hugue- 
nots and  Episcopalians  in  South  Carolina,  and 
the  Methodists  in  Georgia.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Rhode 
Island,  some  form  of  religious  establishment 
had  existed  in  all  the  colonies. 

Let  us  tarry  a  moment  in  Rhode  Island,  the 
land  where  the  banner  of  religious  liberty  was 
first  unfurled.  In  the  mid-winter  of  1636  a 
solitary  pilgrim  might  have  been  seen  wander- 
ing through  the  primeval  forests  of  New  Eng- 
land, an  exile  from  the  territory  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Puritans,  seeking  a  place  of  refuge 
from  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  where  he  and  all 
men  might  worship  God  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  their  consciences.  At  that  time  there 
was  no  such  land  in  the  whole  civilized  world. 
The  colonists  of  Virginia  were  strict  conform- 
ists to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  England. 
There  was  less  freedom  there  than  in  England. 
The  settled  portions  of  New  England  were 
domineered  over  by  the  Puritans  and  Pilgrim 
fathers,  who  left  their  English  homes  to  es- 


254  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

cape  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  only  to  set  up  a 
tyranny  of  their  own.  This  pilgrim,  the  first 
true  type  of  an  American  freeman,  the  trusted 
and  trustworthy  friend  of  the  savage  Indian, 
the  benefactor  of  all  mankind,  was  Roger  Wil- 
liams, who  accomplished  what  no  one  before 
this  ever  had  the  courage  and  wisdom,  com- 
bined with  a  conviction  of  the  broadest  liberty, 
even  to  attempt — to  found  a  purely  secular 
State  ''as  a  shelter  for  the  poor  and  the  perse- 
cuted according  to  their  several  persuasions.'* 

The  time,  let  us  hope,  is  not  far  off,  when  all 
civilized  people,  even  in  the  remotest  corners 
of  the  world,  will  recognize  the  truth  and 
power  of  the  principles  that  throw  around  the 
name  of  Roger  Williams  a  halo  of  imperish- 
able glory. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics, who  in  Protestant  England  were  pro- 
scribed as  a  class,  should  eagerly  direct  their 
eyes  to  the  new  world  for  a  place  of  refuge. 
Lord  Baltimore  had  become  a  devout  convert 
to  Romanism.  By  reason  of  his  high  ofiScial 
position  and  his  being  in  the  good  graces  of 
James  I,  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  charter 
for  Maryland  which  embodied  a  very  broad 
conception  of  toleration.     There  was  no  limi- 


EELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  255 

tation  of  the  freedom  of  conscience,  save  only 
that  Christianity  was  made  the  law  of  the 
land.  This  was  a  great  step  in  the  direction 
of  full  liberty  in  matters  of  religion,  and  a  cen- 
tury in  advance  of  his  time,  or  of  the  New 
England  colonies  and  Virginia.  The  same 
reasons  that  impelled  the  Pilgrims,  the  Puri- 
tans, and  the  Catholics  to  look  to  the  Western 
continent  as  a  harbor  of  refuge  from  ecclesias- 
tical tyranny,  operated  with  increased  force 
upon  the  Quakers,  who  were  exposed  to  al- 
most universal  persecution,  hatred  and  con. 
tempt,  not  only  by  the  prelatical  party,  but 
also  by  the  dissenters.  The  laws  agreed  upon 
in  England  for  their  government  in  Pennsyl- 
vania provided  for  equal  tolerance  of  all  sects 
and  creeds  that  recognized  a  deity,  whereby 
both  Jew  and  Gentile  were  to  be  protected  in 
belief  and  in  form  of  worship.  These  laws 
went  a  step  farther  than  those  of  Maryland 
in  their  approach  to  religious  liberty,  yet  not 
so  far  as  those  of  Rhode  Island,  for  rational- 
ists and  atheists  were  discriminated  against. 
The  colonists,  however,  shortly  after  the  arri- 
val of  William  Penn,  took  a  backward  step, 
showing  that  Penn's  followers  were  not  as  lib- 
eral as  he,  for  by  the  enactments  known  as  the 


256         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

''Great  Law  of  Chester,"  agreed  upon  in  1682, 
religious  toleration  was  curtailed  by  provid- 
ing that  all  the  officers  of  the  colony  should 
be  only  such  as  professed  belief  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 

The  perpetual  strife  that  had  existed  in 
England  between  the  prelatical  party  and  the 
Puritans  was  not  of  such  a  nature  as  to  engen- 
der toleration.  The  contention  was  chiefly 
about  ceremonies,  and  when  the  Puritans  suc- 
ceeded to  power,  great  as  their  sufferings  had 
been,  they  did  not  rise  to  the  height  of  a  prin- 
ciple, but  were  content  to  rest  on  the  plane  of 
their  persecutors.  The  Puritans  who  sought 
New  England  were  not  actuated  altogether  by 
humane  or  liberal  motives.  They  sought  lib- 
erty of  worship  for  themselves  and  for  them- 
selves only;  they  appropriated  the  lands  of 
the  Indians,  and  then  slaughtered  them  when 
they  were  driven  to  rebellion;  dissenting 
Christians  whom  they  could  not  convert  or 
convince  they  exiled;  in  their  eyes,  toleration 
was  heresy  and  civil  liberty  a  crime. 

The  Virginia  colonists,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  neither  exiles  nor  refugees.  They  did 
not  come  to  the  shores  of  Virginia  to  organize 
liberty  or  to  Christianize  the  heathens,  but  to 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  257 

dig  gold  and  cultivate  tobacco.  A  story  is  told 
of  an  official,  to  whom  a  Virginia  delegation 
had  commended  a  measure  for  the  good  of 
the  souls,  replying:  ''Damn  your  souls,  grow 
tobacco."  Their  first  charter  is  evidence  that 
they  were  nothing  more  or  less  than  a  mercan- 
tile corporation  of  the  South  Sea  bubble  phase, 
of  which  the  King  was  the  head,  and  over 
which  he  reserved  absolute  legislative  author- 
ity with  the  hope  of  an  ultimate  revenue. 
''Religion  was  established  according  to  the 
doctrine  and  the  rites  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land within  the  realm,  and  no  emigrant  might 
avow  dissent,  or  affect  the  superstitions  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  or  withdraw  his  allegiance 
from  King  James." 

It  is  plainly  evident  that  neither  the  Angli- 
cans of  Virginia  nor  the  Puritans  of  New  Eng- 
land— both  of  whom  had  modeled  their  civil 
polity  to  conserve  State-churchism — ^were 
likely  to  advance  the  cause  of  religious  liberty, 
if  left  to  themselves,  as  they  hoped  to  be ;  on 
the  contrary,  their  aims  and  efforts,  as  evinced 
by  their  laws  and  regulations,  were  directed  to 
achieve  the  opposite  result.  The  rise  of  that 
religious  liberty  which  was  destined  to  illume 
the  Western  World,  must  be  searched  for  else- 


258         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

where,  and  whatever  credit  rightly  belongs  to 
these  two  sects  is  due  to  their  violent  efforts 
to  repress,  rather  than  to  establish  liberty  in 
matters  of  conscience.  Here,  as  in  all  commu- 
nities, liberty  came  creeping  in  with  the  dis- 
senting minorities. 

Passing  over  the  intermediate  evidences  of 
intolerance  embodied  in  the  early  laws  and 
regulations  of  the  various  colonies,  let  us  ex- 
amine, for  a  moment,  the  constitutions  of  sev- 
eral of  the  Colonies  in  respect  to  religion,  just 
prior  to  the  framing  of  our  national  Constitu- 
tion, which  afford  a  striking  illustration  of  the 
intolerance  of  the  various  sects  that  were  then 
dominant.  Congregationalism  still  continued 
to  be  the  established  religion  in  Massachusetts, 
in  New  Hampshire,  and  in  Connecticut.  The 
church  of  England  had  the  civil  support  in  all 
the  Southern  colonies,  and  partially  in  New 
York  and  New  Jersey.  In  Massachusetts  the 
Legislature  expressly  authorized  and  im- 
pliedly required  compulsory  attendance  at 
church  and  the  civil  support  of  the  ministers. 
Heavy  penalties  were  prescribed  against  all 
who  might  question  the  Divine  inspiration  of 
any  book  of  the  New  or  Old  Testament,  and 
the  old  laws  against  blasphemy  were  revived. 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  259 

Similar  laws  remained  in  force  in  Connecticut, 
and  were  re-enacted  in  New  Hampshire.  By 
the  second  constitution  of  South  Carolina, 
Protestantism  was  declared  to  be  the  estab- 
lished religion  of  the  State.  The  constitution 
of  Maryland  contained  authority  to  levy  a  gen- 
eral and  equal  tax  for  the  support  of  the 
Christian  religion.  In  several  of  the  States 
religious  tests  for  public  office  were  still  re- 
tained. In  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia, 
the  chief  officers  of  the  State  were  required  to 
be  Protestants.  In  Massachusetts  and  in 
Maryland  all  office-holders  were  required  to 
declare  their  belief  in  the  Christian  religion. 
In  South  Carolina  they  must  believe  in  a  fu- 
ture state  of  rewards  and  punishments.  In 
North  Carolina  and  Pennsylvania  they  were 
required  to  acknowledge  the  inspiration  of  the 
New  and  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  Delaware 
to  believe  in  the  Trinity. 

The  agitation  for  the  overthrow  of  the  estab- 
lished church  and  for  complete  separation  of 
Church  and  State  was  first  begun  and  success- 
fully effected  in  Virginia,  a  State  where  we 
should  least  have  expected  it,  where  the 
Church  was  most  closely  allied  with  the  civil 


260  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

powers,  where  it  was  most  firmly  seated  and 
had  more  privileges  than  elsewhere,  and 
where  its  restrictions  upon  dissenters  were 
most  exacting.  By  the  several  acts  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Assembly,  it  was  made  penal  for  parents 
to  refuse  to  have  their  children  baptized. 
They  had  prohibited  as  unlawful  the  assem- 
bling of  Quakers,  and  such  as  were  within  the 
colony  were  subject  to  imprisonment  until  they 
should  abjure  the  country,  and  on  their  third 
return  they  were  liable  to  the  penalty  of 
death. 

Under  the  guiding  spirit  of  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, the  first  Assembly  of  Virginia  repealed 
all  such  obnoxious  laws  as  were  still  on  the 
statute-books.  He  continued  his  onslaught 
upon  the  established  church  for  more  than 
nine  years,  assisted  by  Patrick  Henry  and 
James  Madison  and  the  leaders  of  the  more 
liberal  sects,  until  the  problem  of  religious 
liberty  was  solved  in  all  its  completeness. 
** These  nine  years  of  Virginia's  debates," 
says  the  biographer  of  Jefferson,  "have  per- 
ished, but  something  of  their  heat  and  strenu- 
ous vigor  survives  in  his  'Notes  on  Virginia,' 
written  toward  the  end  of  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  circulated  a  year  before  the  final  tri- 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  261 

umph  of  religious  freedom."  These  vigorous 
utterances  were  the  arsenal  from  which  the 
advocates  of  religious  liberty  drew  their 
weapons  for  fifty  years  until  the  last  remain- 
ing union  between  Church  and  State  was  sev- 
ered. ''Opinion,"  said  Mr.  Jefferson,  "is 
something  with  which  the  government  has 
nothing  to  do.  It  does  me  no  injury  for  my 
neighbor  to  say  there  are  twenty  gods  or  no 
god.  It  is  error  alone  which  needs  the  sup- 
port of  government ;  truth  can  stand  by  itself. 
Millions  of  innocent  men,  women,  and  children 
since  the  introduction  of  Christianity  have 
been  burnt,  tortured,  fined,  and  imprisoned, 
yet  we  have  not  once  advanced  an  inch  toward 
uniformity.  What  has  been  the  effect?  To 
make  one-half  the  world  fools,  and  the  other 
half  hypocrites." 

That  the  passage  of  the  act  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  religious  liberty,  together  with  the 
arguments  contained  in  the  ''Notes  on  Vir- 
ginia," had  a  far-reaching  effect  and  great 
weight  in  the  Federal  Convention  which  as- 
sembled in  May,  1787,  in  the  City  of  Phila- 
delphia, for  the  purpose  of  framing  a  constitu- 
tion, can  hardly  be  doubted,  especially  when  we 
take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  Virginia 


262  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

was  tHe  banner  State,  represented  in  the  con- 
vention by  Madison  and  Mason,  both  of  whom 
had  been  collaborators  with  Jefferson. 

It  is  a  cause  of  congratulation  that  our  coun- 
try has  given  the  world  at  large  and  the  gov- 
ernments of  Europe  proof  of  the  fact,  by 
actual  trial,  that  neither  Church  nor  State  is 
benefited  by  being  united;  on  the  contrary, 
they  both  flourish  best  in  the  atmosphere  of 
freedom.^ 

If  we  were  to  single  out  the  men  who,  from 
the  beginning  of  our  colonial  state  until  the 
present  time,  have  most  eminently  contributed 
to  fostering  and  securing  religious  freedom, 

1  Jefferson  to  James  Madison. 

Pabis,  December  16,  1786. 

"The  Virginia  act  for  religious  freedom  has  been  received 
with  infinite  approbation  in  Europe,  and  propagated  with 
enthusiasm,  I  do  not  mean  by  the  governments,  but  by  the 
individuals  who  compose  them.  It  has  been  translated  into 
French  and  Italian,  has  been  sent  to  most  of  the  courts  of 
Europe,  and  has  been  the  best  evidence  of  the  falsehood 
of  those  reports  which  stated  us  to  be  in  anarchy.  It  is 
inserted  in  the  new  Encyclopedia,  and  is  appearing  in  most 
of  the  publications  respecting  America.  In  fact,  it  is  com- 
fortable to  see  the  standard  of  reason  at  length  erected, 
after  so  many  ages,  during  which  the  human  mind  has  been 
held  in  vassalage  by  kings,  priests  and  nobles;  and  it  is 
honorable  for  us  to  have  produced  the  first  legislature  who 
had  the  courage  to  declare  that  the  reason  of  man  may  be 
trusted  with  the  formation  of  our  own  opinions." 

Jefferson's  Works,  Vol.  2,  p.  67,  1853,  Washington,  D.  C. 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  263 

who  have  made  this  country  of  ours  the  haven 
of  refuge  from  ecclesiastical  tyranny  and  per- 
secution, who  have  set  an  example  more  puis- 
sant than  army  or  navy  for  freeing  the  con- 
science of  men  from  civil  interference,   and 
have  leavened  the  mass  of  intolerance  wher- 
ever the  name  of  America  is  known,  I  should 
mention  first   the   Baptist,   Roger  Williams, 
who  maintained  the  principle  that  the  civil 
powers  have  no  right  to  meddle  in  matters  of 
conscience,  and  who  founded  a  State  with  that 
principle  as  its  corner-stone.    I  should  men- 
tion second  the  Catholic,  Lord  Baltimore,  pro- 
prietor  of  Maryland,   to   whom  belongs   the 
credit  of  having  established  liberty  in  matters 
of  worship  which  was  second  only  to  Rhode 
Island.    I    should   name    third,    the    Quaker, 
Penn,  whose   golden  motto  was,   ''We  must 
yield  the  liberties  we  demand."    Fourth  on 
the  list  is  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  "arch  infi- 
del," as  he  has  been  termed  by  some  religious 
writers,  who  overthrew  the  established  church 
in  his  own  State,  and  then,  with  prophetic 
statesmanship,   made   it   impossible   for   any 
church  to  establish  itself  under  our  national 
Constitution,  or  in  any  way  to  abridge  the 
rights  of  conscience. 


264  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

There  are  many  other  bright  names  in  our 
history,  such  as  Henry,  Mason,  Madison,  and 
Franklin,  who  contributed  to  the  same  good 
end,  besides  the  champions  who  led  to  victory 
in  the  various  States,  among  whom  were  many 
devout  and  learned  ministers  of  the  several 
denominations. 

''Religious  liberty,"  in  the  language  of  Mr. 
Thomas  F.  Bayard,  when  Secretary  of  State, 
"is  the  chief  corner-stone  of  the  American 
system  of  government,  and  provisions  for  its 
security  are  imbedded  in  the  written  charter 
and  interwoven  in  the  moral  fabric  of  our 
laws.  Anything  that  tends  to  invade  a  right 
so  essential  and  sacred  must  be  carefully 
guarded  against,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  my 
countrymen,  ever  mindful  of  the  sufferings 
and  sacrifices  necessary  to  obtain  it,  will  never 
consent  to  its  impairment  for  any  reason  or 
under  any  pretext  whatever." 

On  November  4th,  1796,  during  the  Presiden- 
cy of  Washington,  a  treaty  was  concluded  with 
Tripoli,  which  was  ratified  by  the  Senate,  un- 
der the  Presidency  of  John  Adams,  on  June 
7th,  1797,  wherein  it  is  provided:  "As  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  is  not  in  any 
sense  founded  on  the  Christian  religion;  as  it 


RELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  265 

has  itself  no  character  of  enmity  against  the 
laws,  religion  or  tranquillity  of  Mussulmans 
...  it  is  declared  by  the  parties  that  no  pre- 
text arising  from  religious  opinions  shall  ever 
produce  an  interruption  of  harmony  existing 
between  the  two  countries."  ''This  dis- 
claimer by  Washington,"  says  Rev.  Dr.  Sam- 
uel T.  Spear,  an  able  writer  on  Constitu- 
tional law,  ''in  negotiating,  and  by  the  Senate 
in  confirming,  the  treaty  with  Tripoli,  was  not 
designed  to  disparage  the  Christian  religion, 
or  indicate  any  hostility  thereto,  but  to  set 
forth  the  fact,  so  apparent  in  the  Constitution 
itself,  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  was  not  founded  upon  that  religion, 
and  hence  did  not  embody  or  assert  any  of  its 
doctrines.  The  language  of  this  article  in  the 
treaty  was  used  for  a  purpose,  and  that  pur- 
pose was  in  exact  correspondence  with  the  fact 
as  contained  in  the  Constitution  itself.  Chris- 
tianity, though  the  prevalent  religion  of  the 
people  when  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  is 
unknown  to  it." 

This  subject  has  been  in  some  form  or  other 
before  the  courts  in  several  States,  and  no- 
where more  directly  at  issue  and  more  learn- 
edly considered  than  in  the  case  of  Minor 


266  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

against  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  City  of 
Cincinnati.  The  School  Board  was  repre- 
sented by  George  Hoadley,  late  Governor  of 
Ohio,  Stanley  Matthews,  afterward  Associate 
Justice  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court, 
and  Judge  Stallo,  who  in  a  most  scholarly 
presentation  of  the  entire  question,  addressing 
himself  to  the  claim  by  the  plaintitfs  that 
Christianity  was  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  State, 
concluded  in  these  words : 

Christianity  was  part  of  the  law  of  Massachu- 
setts  two  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago  when  Roger 
Williams  was  cited  before  the  General  Court  for 
preaching  the  doctrine  of  liberty  of  conscience,  and 
was  sent  into  the  wilderness  in  midwinter  for  that 
offense,  when  Quakers  were  banished  and  Quaker- 
esses hanged ;  it  was  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  where  the  penalty  of  death  was 
threatened  to  be  inflicted  on  Catholic  priests  for 
bringing  the  sacrament  to  the  dying  faithful ;  it  was 
part  of  the  common  law  of  Virginia,  where  dis- 
senters were  required  to  build  the  churches  of  the 
Anglicans;  but  it  is  not  to-day  a  part  of  the  com- 
mon law  of  Ohio,  or,  indeed,  of  any  State  in  the 
Union  that  I  know  of. 

Mr.  Lecky,  in  his  ''Rationalism  in  Europe,'* 
says:  ''In  one  age  the  persecutor  burnt  the 
heretic;  in  another  he  crushed  him  with  penal 


EELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  267 

laws;  in  a  third  he  withheld  from  him  places 
of  emolument;  in  a  fourth,  he  subjected  him 
to  the  ex-communication  of  society.  Each 
stage  of  advancing  toleration  marks  a  stage 
of  the  decline  of  the  spirit  of  dogmatism  and 
of  the  increase  of  the  spirit  of  truth." 

That  there  are  vestiges  and  distinct  traces 
of  this  infection  even  at  this  day  in  our  own 
country,  I  hardly  need  point  out.  The  people 
in  this  country,  through  severe  trials  and  con- 
flicts, have  successfully  expelled  from  their 
civil  polity  all  distinctions  of  creed  and  caste, 
in  consonance  with  the  great  declaration  of 
the  men  of  '76,  that  all  men  are  created  equal. 
And  they  did  this  in  the  face  of  the  govern- 
ments and  the  customs  of  the  civilized  world, 
at  a  time  when  under  all  forms  of  polity  the 
relations  which  men  bore  to  one  another  rested 
upon  distinctions  of  birth  and  privileges  estab- 
lished by  law,  at  a  time  when  democracy,  such 
as  they  organized,  based  upon  manhood  suf- 
frage, was  looked  upon  as  the  dream  of  the 
theorist,  suitable  only  to  the  wild  Indian  dwell- 
ing in  pristine  barbarism.  On  these  broad 
and  humane  principles,  and  by  reason  thereof, 
the  American  people  have  built  up  a  nation 
and  achieved  a  prosperity  which  outstrips  the 


268  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

prophecies  of  most  enthusiastic  admirers. 
They  have  done  this  in  the  face  of  ancient 
and  hereditary  prejudices  that  were  as  old 
and  as  firmly  set  as  the  pyramids.  It  is  espe- 
cially fitting,  more  than  that,  it  is  the  duty  of 
every  American  man  and  woman  to  free  their 
own  minds  from  ancient  hatred  and  hereditary 
prejudices,  and  to  instil  in  the  minds  of  their 
children  the  humane  principles  that  underlie 
our  civil  State.  Let  them  bear  in  mind  that 
just  so  sacred  as  religion  is,  so  is  every  one's 
right  to  choose  the  one  by  which  his  hopes  and 
his  aspirations  shall  be  guided ;  and  that  every 
distinction  and  proscription  based  upon  the  de- 
nial of  this  sacred  right  is  as  much  in  conflict 
with  true  religion  as  with  true  democracy. 

Hon.  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  in  his  valuable  essay, 
"Establishment  and  Disestablishment,"  very 
correctly  says:  *'In  the  United  States,  it  can- 
not be  too  frequently  or  strongly  reaffirmed, 
churches  or  denominations  or  sects  are  on  a 
plane  of  undistinguishable  equality  before  the 
law.  The  government  cannot  interfere  with 
their  doctrines,  discipline,  worship,  or  the  ap- 
pointment or  support  of  the  clergy.  It  is 
sheer  impertinence,  insolent  assumption,  to 
talk  of  any  American  citizens  as  dissenters  or 


EELIGIOUS  LIBERTY  269 

non-conformists,  or  for  any  denomination  to 
arrogate  to  itself  the  name  of  the  'Church  of 
the  United  States';  or  for  any  ecclesiastical 
functionary  to  sign  himself  'the  Bishop  of 
Pennsylvania'  or  of  any  other  State." 

''We  can  say  now,"  says  Charles  W.  Eliot, 
the  scholarly  President  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, in  his  work  entitled,  "American  Con- 
tributions to  Civilization,"  "as  we  look  back 
on  the  history  of  Europe,  how  fortunate  it  was 
that  the  colonization  of  North  America  by 
Europeans  was  deferred  until  after  the  period 
of  the  Reformation,  and  especially  until  after 
the  Elizabethan  period  in  England,  the  Luther 
period  in  Germany,  and  the  splendid  struggle 
of  the  Dutch  for  liberty  in  Holland.  The 
founders  of  New  England  and  New  York  were 
men  who  had  imbibed  the  principles  of  resist- 
ance both  to  arbitrary  civil  power  and  to  uni- 
versal ecclesiastical  authority.  Li  the  United 
States,  religious  toleration  is  better  under- 
stood and  more  firmly  established  than  in 
any  other  nation.  It  is  not  only  embodied 
in  legislation,  but  also  completely  recognized 
in  the  habits  and  customs  of  good  society. 
Elsewhere  it  may  be  a  long  road  from  legal  to 
social  recognition  of  religious  liberty,  as  the 


270         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

example  of  England  shows.  This  recognition 
alone  would  mean,  to  any  competent  student 
of  history,  that  the  United  States  had  made 
an  unexampled  contribution  to  the  reconcilia- 
tion of  just  governmental  power  with  just  free- 
dom for  the  individual,  inasmuch  as  the  par- 
tial establishment  of  religious  toleration  has 
been  the  main  work  of  civilization  during  the 
past  four  centuries.  In  view  of  this  charac- 
teristic and  infinitely  beneficent  contribution 
to  human  happiness  and  progress,  how  pitiable 
seem  the  temporary  outbursts  of  bigotry  and 
fanaticism  which  have  occasionally  marred  the 
fair  record  of  our  country  in  regard  to  re- 
ligious toleration!" 

The  spirit  that  guided  the  work  of  the  foun- 
ders of  our  government  was  not  one  that  was 
crushed  and  screwed  into  sectarian  molds  by 
the  decrees  of  intolerant  councils,  and  by  the 
subtleties  of  ingenious  priests;  it  recognizes 
the  value  of  every  creed,  but  rises  above  them 
all.  The  grand  and  noble  purpose  was  to 
establish  justice,  promote  the  general  welfare, 
and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves 
and  our  posterity.  This  is  the  lesson  of  the 
development  of  civil  as  well  as  religious  liberty 
in  the  United  States. 


XIV 

THE    FIKST    SETTLEMENT    OF     THE 
JEWS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


XIV 

THE    FIRST    SETTLEMENT     OF    THE 
JEWS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

FEW  greater  calamities,"  says  Lecky, 
"can  befall  a  nation  than  to  cut  herself 
off,  as  France  did  in  her  great  revolution,  from 
all  vital  connection  with  her  own  past."  Here 
in  this  historic  hall,  dedicated  by  that  great 
commoner,  James  Otis,  as  ''The  Cradle  of 
Liberty, "  were  held  those  town  meetings  throb- 
bing with  the  nascent  principles  of  democracy. 
Herein  also,  where  a  decade  later  Samuel 
Adams  and  Joseph  Warren  first  organized  re- 
sistance to  arbitrary  government,  it  is  most 
fitting  and  proper  to  celebrate  an  historical 
event,  insignificant  in  itself,  yet  whose  threads 
dyed  in  the  blood  of  martyrs  for  soul-liberty, 
find  a  fitting  place  in  the  composite  fabric  of 
our  continent's  history  and  in  the  development 
of  our  civil  and  religious  liberties.  The  his- 
torian of  the  persecution  of  the  Jews,  Dr.  Kay- 
serling,  says;  ''Where  the  history  of  the  Jews 

273 


274  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

in  Spain  ends,  their  history  in  America  be- 
gins ;  the  Inquisition  is  the  last  chapter  of  the 
confessors  of  Judaism  on  the  Pyrenan  Penin- 
sula and  their  first  chapter  on  the  continent  of 
the  Western  hemisphere  "  The  expulsion  of 
the  Jews  from  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  the 
discovery  of  America,  are  linked  together  not 
only  as  contemporaneous  events,  but  also  in 
some  important  contributory  relations.  Emi- 
lio  Castelar,  in  his  "History  of  Columbus,'* 
says  that  as  soon  as  Luis  Santangel,  the  comp- 
troller-general of  Aragon,  "one  of  those  an- 
tique Jews  wlio  have  so  greatly  helped  to  en- 
lighten the  Christian  world,"  heard  of  the  dis- 
missal of  Columbus,  he  prevailed  upon  the 
Queen  to  order  his  return,  and  when  she  com- 
plained of  the  emptiness  of  the  Castilian 
treasury,  Santangel  assured  her  majesty  of 
the  flourishing  state  of  the  Aragonese  finances 
— doubtless,  says  the  historian,  because  of  the 
revenues  derived  from  the  confiscation  of  the 
property  of  the  expelled  Jews.  From  the 
archives  of  Simancas,  which  are  still  pre- 
served at  Seville,  it  is  clear  that  Santangel, 
whom  the  historian  has  named  the  Beacons- 
field  of  his  time,  and  whose  uncle  of  the  same 
name,  and  other  kinsmen,  died  at  the  stake  in 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  JEWS       275 

Saragossa,  not  only  was  instrumental  in  con- 
nection with  Juan  Cabrera,  also  of  Jewish  lin- 
eage, in  successfully  interposing  in  behalf  of 
Columbus,  but  it  is  proven  beyond  question 
that  out  of  his  personal  belongings  he  ad- 
vanced the  money  that  made  the  voyage  of  dis- 
covery possible.  Furthermore,  the  first  and 
second  letters  of  Columbus  narrating  the  facts 
of  his  great  discoveries  were  addressed  to 
Santangel  and  his  brother-in-law,  also  a  Mar- 
rano,  or  secret  Jew,  Gabriel  Sanches. 

In  order  to  obtain  the  crews  to  man  the 
caravels  of  Columbus,  it  was  necessary  to 
throw  open  the  doors  of  the  prisons  of  Palos 
and  other  seaports.  "Within  their  dungeon 
walls  were  found  many  members  of  the 
hunted  and  expelled  race,  and  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  to  such  men  the  dangers  of  the 
unknown  seas  would  be  an  attractive  escape 
from  their  pitiable  condition.  It  is  known 
that  the  interpreter,  the  surgeon,  and  the 
physician  of  the  fleet,  besides  several  sailors 
who  were  with  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage, 
were  Jews.  Castelar  says:  ''It  chanced  that 
one  of  the  last  vessels  transporting  into  exile 
the  Jews  expelled  from  Spain  by  religious  in- 
tolerance of  which  the  recently  created  and 


276         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

odious  tribunal  of  the  faith  was  the  embodi- 
ment, passed  by  the  little  fleet  bound  in  search 
of  another  world,  whose  new  born  creation 
should  afford  a  haven  to  the  quickening 
principle  of  human  liberty  and  be  a  temple 
reared  to  the  God  of  enfranchised  and  re- 
deemed conscience.  .  .  .  The  accursed  spirit 
of  reaction  was  wreaking  one  of  its  stupen- 
dous and  futile  crimes  in  that  very  hour  when 
the  genius  of  liberty  was  searching  the  waves 
for  the  land  that  must  needs  arise  to  offer  an 
unstained  abode  for  the  ideals  of  progress.'* 

Among  the  earliest  and  certainly  the  most 
enlightened  colonists  who  came  to  this  conti- 
nent, to  South  America,  and  to  the  islands  in 
the  Atlantic,  were  many  Jews  who  left  Spain 
and  Portugal  in  order  to  escape  the  rack  and 
the  stake  of  the  merciless  bloodhounds  of  the 
Holy  Office.  The  number  of  the  children  and 
grandchildren  of  those  Jews  who  had  been 
burnt  and  condemned  by  the  Inquisition,  and 
who  settled  on  the  American  continent  shortly 
after  the  discovery,  was  so  large  that  in  1511 
Queen  Johanna  considered  it  necessary  to 
take  measures  against  them. 

In  1620,  when  the  Dutch  West  India  Com- 
pany  was   formed,   Jews   became   influential 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  JEWS      277 

stockholders,  and  subsequently  were  directors 
therein;  and  in  1654,  when  the  Dutch  colony 
of  Brazil  came  under  Portuguese  control, 
many  thousand  Jews  had  again  to  seek  a  new 
place  of  refuge.  In  September  of  that  year 
twenty-three  of  these  fugitives  arrived  at 
New  Amsterdam.  They  did  not  receive  a 
hearty  welcome  by  the  not  over-amiable  Dutch 
Governor,  Peter  Stuyvesant,  whose  concep- 
tion of  our  future  metropolis  was  to  make  it 
a  comfortable  little  Dutch  village  with  a  mo- 
nopoly of  fur  trade  with  the  Indians.  When, 
six  months  later,  the  Governor  endeavored  to 
expel  the  newcomer  he  was  reprimanded  by 
the  directors  of  the  Company  in  Holland,  and 
instructed  that  the  right  of  the  Jews  to  live 
unmolested  within  the  colony  was  unreserv- 
edly granted,  because  to  prohibit  them  ''would 
be  unreasonable  and  unfair,  especially  be- 
cause of  the  considerable  loss  they  had  sus- 
tained in  the  capture  of  Brazil,  and  because 
of  the  large  amount  of  capital  they  had  in- 
vested in  the  shares  of  the  company.'^ 

This  is  the  beginning  of  the  first  Jewish  set- 
tlement within  the  limits  of  the  United  States, 
the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
which  we  are  commemorating  to-night.    The 


278  THE  AMEEICAN  SPIRIT 

same  year,  1655,  through  the  persistent  efforts 
of  Menasseh  Ben  Israel,  through  the  kindly- 
favor  of  the  tolerant  Oliver  Cromwell,  the 
Jews  regained  admission  into  Great  Britain, 
from  which  country  they  had  been  expelled  in 
1290  under  Edward  I.  Here  it  should  be  noted 
that  one  of  the  foremost  advocates  for  the  re- 
admission  of  the  Jews  into  Great  Britain  was 
Eoger  Williams,  that  immortal  pioneer  of  soul- 
liberty,  the  first  true  type  of  an  American 
freeman,  who  was  then  in  London  to  obtain  a 
new  charter,  uniting  the  several  Ehode  Island 
towns,  and  to  secure  and  safeguard  those  ines- 
timable blessings  to  which  he  consecrated  his 
life,  under  which  ''all  men  may  walk  as  their 
conscience  persuades  them,  every  one  in  the 
name  of  his  God." 

Three  and  a  half  decades  before  the  Santa 
Catarina  brought  to  our  shores  the  little 
band  of  hunted  and  despoiled  fugitives  from 
Brazil,  another  little  bark  had  plowed  its 
way  in  midwinter  through  the  stormy  ocean, 
wafted  by  the  airs  of  heaven  to  yon  bleak 
coast.  There  she  landed  her  little  crew  of 
refugees — men,  women,  and  children — on  Ply- 
mouth Rock,  that  stepping-stone  to  the  temple 
of  our  liberties,  whose  capstone,  bathed  in  the 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  JEWS    279 

blood  of  their  descendants,  was  placed  two 
hundred  and  forty  years  later  by  the  hands  of 
the  immortal  liberator,  Abraham  Lincoln. 
They  were  purists  without  priests  or  priestly 
orders,  separated  from  the  national  church, 
but  at  one  with  their  God,  and  drawing  their 
inspiration  directly  from  the  Bible,  not  from 
the  catechism  of  Archbishop  Laud,  but  from 
the  open  Bible  of  Moses  and  Luther.  They 
were  in  all  a  hundred  souls,  whom  two  hundred 
years  of  struggle  for  freedom  had  prepared 
for  this  voyage.  They  studied  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  order  the  better  to  understand  the 
New.  From  the  former  they  drew  their  civil 
polity;  from  the  latter  their  church  discipline 
and  ceremonials.  Moses  was  their  law-giver, 
the  Pentateuch  their  code,  and  Israel  under  the 
Judges  their  ideal  of  popular  government. 
The  path  of  the  crusaders  to  recover  the  holy 
sepulchre  was  dyed  with  the  blood  of  the 
hunted  professors  of  Judaism ;  and  from  a  ha- 
tred organized  by  the  church  against  "the  peo- 
ple of  the  Book,"  the  Book  itself  fell  into  dis- 
esteem — a  feeling  that  was  carried  over  with 
many  of  the  Roman  rites  into  the  early  Prot- 
estant church.  With  the  rise  of  the  Puritans, 
and  their  struggle  for  independence  and  free- 


280  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

dom  from  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  came  a  re- 
vival of  the  study  of  the  Old  Testament,  of 
Hebrew  and  of  Hebraic  learning.  With  the 
American  Puritans  especially,  the  Mosaic  code 
and  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  were  living 
realities,  so  intense  was  their  interest,  so  ear- 
nest was  their  religious  life.  No  architect 
drew  his  plans  with  more  fidelity  of  purpose 
to  reconstruct  a  building  after  an  ancient 
model,  than  did  the  Puritans  study  this  Bibli- 
cal code  and  the  Hebraic  form  of  government 
which  they  endeavored  to  apply  literally  to 
their  New  Canaan.  Elsewhere  I  have  dwelt  in 
detail  upon  the  Hebraic  mortar  that  cemented 
the  foundations  of  our  American  democracy, 
and  told  how  through  the  windows  of  the 
Puritan  churches  the  new  West  looked  back  to 
the  old  East. 

It  was  only  a  few  years  after  their  first  set- 
tlement in  New  York  when  several  of  the  fugi- 
tives and  others  who  had  arrived  from  over 
sea  settled  in  Newport,  where  they  were  hos- 
pitably received  in  consonance  with  the  spirit 
of  the  colony's  founder,  Roger  Williams.  With 
these  early  Puritans,  austere  in  manner  and 
with  a  church  polity  exacting  and  narrow,  call- 
ing no  man  master,  and  with  a  deep  sense  of 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  JEWS    281 

equality  before  God,  it  was  but  a  step  to  equal- 
ity among  one  another,  and  thus  they  built  up 
their  civil  state  upon  a  purely  religious,  demo- 
cratic foundation.  As  Lecky  says :  * '  It  is  at 
least  an  historical  fact,  that  in  the  great  ma- 
jority of  instances  the  early  Protestant  de- 
fenders of  civil  liberty  derived  their  political 
principles  chiefly  from  the  Old  Testament,  and 
the  defenders  of  despotism  from  the  New. ' ' 

The  American  Jews,  as  loyal  and  faithful 
citizens,  have  shared  willingly  in  all  the  trials 
our  country  has  passed  through,  from  the  days 
of  the  Revolution  until  the  present  time,  and 
she  has  found  none  more  ready  than  they  to 
make  every  sacrifice  that  true  patriotism  de- 
manded. During  the  Revolution  there  were 
only  a  few  hundred  Jews  within  the  limits  of 
the  United  States,  yet  in  the  Continental  army 
— not  to  speak  of  the  ranks — there  were  two 
colonels.  Colonel  Baum  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  other  Colonel  Franks,  who  was  closely  as- 
sociated with  Washington,  and  was  the  bearer 
of  the  treaty  of  peace  to  England.  Thomas 
Wentworth  Higginson  relates  that  in  1788  in 
Philadelphia,  in  honor  of  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  a  rabbi  and  two  Christian  minis- 
ters marched  side  by  side,  ''really,"  are  his 


282         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

words,  *' constituting  the  first  parliament  of 
religions  in  this  country."  In  our  Civil  War 
more  than  seven  thousand  names  of  Jewish 
patriots  have  been  identified,  and  in  our  lesser 
war  with  Spain  two  thousand  and  seven  hun- 
dred participated,  and  several  regiments  were 
formed,  but  their  services  were  not  required. 

The  criticism  is  often  made  that  the  Jews 
are  clannish,  and  do  not  amalgamate  with  the 
rest  of  the  population.  This  is  only  partly 
true.  Clannish  they  are,  not  from  choice,  but 
from  self-respect.  They  have  amalgamated  as 
far  as  the  delicacy  of  social  relations  has  justi- 
fied, and  there  are  not  a  few  of  the  very  best 
families  in  this  and  in  other  cities  who  have 
evidences  of  that  amalgamation  in  their  veins. 
John  Howard  Payne,  who  gave  us  that  song 
which  never  fails  to  thrill  a  patriot's  heart, 
''Home,  Sweet  Home,"  was  the  son  of  a  Jew- 
ish mother.  No  people,  ancient  or  modem, 
have  made  so  great  sacrifices  for  spiritual 
ideas  and  ideals  as  the  Jews ;  the  longest  trail 
of  martyrdom  in  all  history  is  crimsoned  with 
their  blood.  George  Eliot,  quoting  the  histor- 
ian Zunz,  says  in  "Daniel  Deronda":  ''If 
there  are  ranks  in  suffering,  Israel  takes  prece- 
dence of  all  the  nations ;  if  the  duration  of  sor- 


FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  JEWS    283 

rows,  and  the  patience  with  which  they  are 
borne,  ennoble,  the  Jews  are  among  the  aris- 
tocracy of  every  land ;  if  a  literature  is  called 
rich  in  the  possession  of  a  few  classic  tragedies, 
what  shall  we  say  to  a  national  tragedy  lasting 
for  fifteen  hundred  years,  in  which  the  poets 
and  the  actors  were  also  the  heroes'?" 

It  is  sad  and  a  cause  for  regret  that  we  must 
direct  attention  to  the  mournful  pictures  op- 
pression has  engraved  in  blood  upon  the  pages 
of  history ;  but  alas !  every  day  brings  to  our 
doors  the  haggard  and  hunted  faces  of  fugi- 
tives from  oppression.  The  Armenians,  among 
the  earliest  professors  of  Christianity,  once  a 
proud  and  noble  race,  whose  numbers  have 
been  decimated  time  and  again  by  organized 
massacres,  daily  reach  our  shores,  and  give 
thanks  to  God  that  they  are  sheltered  beneath 
the  Stars  and  Stripes,  far  beyond  the  reach 
of  their  Russian  and  Ottoman  oppressors. 
Only  yesterday  we  read  with  throbbing  hearts 
of  the  massacre  of  thousands  of  helpless 
men,  women  and  children  in  Odessa,  Kief, 
Kishinef,  and  a  hundred  other  cities,  towns 
and  hamlets  throughout  Russia.  So  long 
as  these  terrible  outbreaks  of  religious  fa- 
naticism and  class  hatred  disgrace  our  age 


284  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

and  our  civilization,  let  us  not  forget  the  ever- 
lasting meaning  of  the  imprint  the  feet  of  the 
Pilgrims  made  upon  our  continent,  that  it  shall 
ever  be  a  "shelter  for  the  poor  and  the  perse- 
cuted." To  bar  out  these  refugees  from  po- 
litical oppression  or  religious  intolerance,  who 
bring  a  love  of  liberty  hallowed  by  sacrifices 
made  upon  the  altar  of  an  enlightened  con- 
science, though  their  pockets  be  empty,  is  a 
grievous  wrong,  and  in  violation  of  the  spirit 
of  our  origin  and  development  as  a  free  peo- 
ple; for  they  too,  have  God's  right  to  tread 
upon  American  soil,  which  the  Pilgrims  have 
sanctified  as  the  home  of  the  refugee. 

Ay,  call  it  holy  ground, 

The  soil  where  first  they  trod ; 
They  have  left  unstained  what  there  they  found — 

Freedom  to  worship  God. 


XV 

AMERICA  AND  THE  SPIRIT  OF  AMERI- 
CAN JUDAISM 


XV 

AMERICA  AND  THE  SPIRIT  OF  AMERI- 
CAN JUDAISM 

THE  spirit  of  American  Judaism  first  as- 
serted itself  when  Stuyvesant,  the  Gover- 
nor of  New  Amsterdam,  would  not  permit  the 
few  Jews  who  had  emigrated  from  Portugal  to 
unite  with  the  other  burghers  in  standing 
guard  for  the  protection  of  their  homes. 
When  the  tax-collector  came  to  Asser  Levy  to 
demand  a  tax  on  this  account,  he  asked 
whether  that  tax  was  imposed  on  all  the  resi- 
dents of  New  Amsterdam.  ''No,"  was  the  re- 
ply, ''it  is  only  imposed  upon  the  Jews,  he- 
cause  they  do  not  stand  guard !"  "I  have  not 
asked  to  be  exempted,"  replied  Asser  Levy. 
' '  I  am  not  only  willing,  but  I  demand  the  right 
to  stand  guard."  That  right  the  Jews  have 
asserted  and  exercised  as  officers  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Continental  army  and  in  every  crisis  of 
our  national  history  from  that  time  until  the 
present  day. 

287 


288  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

The  AmeTican  spirit  and  the  spirit  of  Amer- 
ican Judaism  were  nurtured  in  the  same  cradle 
of  Liberty,  and  were  united  in  origin,  in  ideals, 
and  in  historical  development.  The  closing 
chapter  of  the  chronicles  of  the  Jews  on  the 
Iberian  peninsula  forms  the  opening  chapter  of 
their  history  on  this  Continent.  It  was  Luis 
Santangel,  "the  Beaconsfield  of  his  time,"  as- 
sisted by  his  kinsman  Gabriel  Sanches,  the 
Royal  Treasurer  of  Aragon,  who  advanced  out 
of  his  own  purse  seventeen  thousand  florins 
which  made  the  voyages  of  Columbus  possible. 
Luis  de  Torres,  the  interpreter  as  well  as  the 
surgeon  and  the  physician  of  the  little  fleet, 
and  several  of  the  sailors  who  were  with  Col- 
umbus on  his  first  voyage,  as  shown  by  the 
record,  were  Jews. 

Looking  back  through  this  vista  of  more 
than  four  centuries,  we  have  reason  to  remem- 
ber with  justified  gratitude  the  foresight  and 
signal  services  of  those  Spanish  Jews  who  had 
the  wisdom  to  divine  the  far-reaching  possi- 
bilities of  the  plans  of  the  great  navigator, 
whom  the  King  and  the  Queen,  the  Dukes  and 
Grandees  united  in  regarding  as  merely  *'a 
visionary  babbler"  or,  worse  than  this,  as  "a 
scheming    adventurer."    The    royal    patrons 


AMERICAN  JUDAISM  289 

were  finally  won  over  by  the  hope  that  Colum- 
bus might  discover  new  treasures  of  gold  and 
precious  stones  to  enrich  the  Spanish  crown. 
But  not  so  with  the  Jewish  patrons,  who 
caused  Columbus,  or,  as  he  was  then  called, 
Christopher  Colon,  to  be  recalled,  and  who, 
without  security  and  without  interest,  ad- 
vanced the  money  to  fit  out  his  caravels,  since 
they  saw,  as  by  a  divine  inspiration,  the  prom- 
ise and  possibility  of  the  discovery  of  another 
world,  which,  in  the  words  of  the  late  Emilio 
Castelar — the  historian,  statesman,  and  one 
time  President  of  Spain — ''would  afford  to  the 
quickening  principles  of  human  liberty  a  tem- 
ple reared  to  the  God  of  enfranchised  and  re- 
deemed conscience,  a  land  that  would  offer  an 
unstained  abode  to  the  ideals  of  progress." 
Fortunately,  the  records  of  these  transactions 
are  still  preserved  in  the  archives  of  Simancas 
in  Seville. 

It  is  idle  to  speculate  upon  hypothetical  the- 
ories in  the  face  of  the  facts  of  history.  Of 
course,  America  would  have  been  discovered 
and  colonized  had  Columbus  never  lived,  but 
had  the  streams  of  the  beginnings  of  American 
history  flown  from  other  sources  in  other  di- 
rections, it  would  be  futile  even  to  make  an  im- 


290        THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

aginative  forecast  of  the  effect  they  would 
have  produced  upon  the  history  and  develop- 
ment of  this  Continent.  The  merciless  intol- 
erance of  an  ecclesiastical  system  and  the  hor- 
ror of  its  persecutions  stimulated  the  earliest 
immigration,  and  subsequently  brought  about 
the  Reformation  in  Saxon  and  Anglo-Saxon 
lands,  and  the  same  spirit  drove  to  our  shores 
the  Pilgrim  and  the  Puritan  fathers;  which 
chain  of  circumstances  destined  this  country 
from  the  very  beginning  to  be  the  land  of  the 
immigrant  and  a  home  for  the  fugitive  and  the 
persecuted. 

The  difference  between  government  by  kings 
and  nobles  and  government  under  a  Democ- 
racy is,  that  the  former  rests  upon  the  power 
to  compel  obedience,  while  the  latter  rests  es- 
sentially upon  the  sacrifice  by  the  individual 
for  the  community,  based  upon  the  ideals  of 
right  and  justice.  If  the  Pilgrims,  the  Puri- 
tans, and  the  Huguenots  brought  with  them,  as 
they  certainly  did,  the  remembrance  of  suffer- 
ings for  ideals  and  the  spirit  of  sacrifice,  how 
much  longer  was  that  remembrance,  and  with 
how  much  greater  intensity  did  that  spirit 
glow  in  the  souls  of  the  Jews,  whose  whole  his- 
tory is  a  record  of  martyrdom,  of  suffering, 


AMERICAN  JUDAISM  291 

and  of  sacrifice  for  the  ideals  of  civil  and  re- 
ligious liberty;  concerning  whom  it  has  been 
said:  *'0f  all  the  races  and  nations  of  man- 
kind which  quarter  the  arms  of  Liberty  on  the 
shields  of  their  honor,  none  has  a  better  title  to 
that  decoration  than  the  Jews." 

The  spirit  of  Judaism  became  the  mother 
spirit  of  Puritanism  in  Old  England;  and  the 
history  of  Israel  and  its  democratic  model  un- 
der the  Judges  inspired  and  guided  the  Pil- 
grims and  Puritans  in  their  wandering  hither 
and  in  laying  the  foundation  of  their  common- 
wealths in  New  England.  The  piety  and 
learning  of  the  Jews  bridged  the  chasm  of  the 
middle  ages;  and  the  torch  they  bore  amidst 
trials  and  sufferings  lighted  the  pathway  from 
the  ancient  to  the  modern  world. 

''The  historical  power  of  the  prophets  of 
Israel,"  says  James  Darmesteter,  ''is  ex- 
hausted neither  by  Judaism  nor  by  Christian- 
ity, and  they  hold  a  reserve  force  for  the  bene- 
fit of  the  coming  century.  The  twentieth 
century  is  better  prepared  than  the  nineteen 
preceding  it  to  understand  them."  While 
Zionism  is  a  pious  hope  and  a  vision  out  of 
despair  in  countries  where  the  victims  of  op- 
pression are  still  counted  by  millions,  the  re- 


292  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

publicanism  of  the  United  States  is  the  nearest 
approach  to  the  ideals  of  the  prophets  of  Is- 
rael that  ever  has  been  incorporated  in  the 
form  of  a  State.  The  founders  of  our  govern- 
ment converted  the  dreams  of  philosophers 
into  a  political  system — a  government  by  the 
people,  for  the  people,  whereunder  the  rights 
of  man  became  the  rights  of  men,  secured  and 
guaranteed  by  a  written  constitution.  Ours  is 
peculiarly  a  promised  land  wherein  the  spirit 
of  the  teachings  of  the  ancient  prophets  in- 
spired the  work  of  the  fathers  of  our  country. 

American  liberty  demands  of  no  man  the 
abandonment  of  his  conscientious  convictions ; 
on  the  contrary,  it  had  its  birth,  not  in  the  nar- 
rowness of  uniformity,  but  in  the  breadth  of 
diversity,  which  patriotism  fuses  together  into 
a  conscious  harmony  for  the  highest  welfare  of 
all.  The  Protestant,  the  Catholic,  and  the 
Jew,  each  and  all  need  the  support  and  the  sus- 
taining power  of  their  religion  to  develop  their 
moral  natures  and  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice  which  American  patriotism  de- 
mands of  every  man,  whatever  may  be  his 
creed  or  race,  who  is  worthy  to  enjoy  the  bless- 
ings of  American  citizenship. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  misunderstood  as  claimr- 


AMERICAN  JUDAISM  293 

ing  any  special  merit  for  the  Jews  as  Ameri- 
ican  citizens  which  is  not  equally  possessed  by 
the  Americans  of  other  creeds.  They  have  the 
good  as  well  as  the  bad  among  them,  the  noble 
and  the  ignoble,  the  worthy  and  the  unworthy. 
They  have  the  qualities  as  well  as  the  defects 
of  their  fellow-citizens.  In  a  word,  they  are 
not  any  less  patriotic  Americans  because  they 
are  Jews,  nor  any  less  loyal  Jews  because  they 
are  primarily  patriotic  Americans. 

The  Jew  is  neither  a  newcomer  nor  an 
alien  in  this  country  or  on  this  continent; 
his  Americanism  is  as  original  and  ancient  as 
that  of  any  race  or  people  with  the  exception  of 
the  American  Indian  and  other  aborigines.  He 
came  in  the  caravels  of  Columbus,  and  he 
knocked  at  the  gates  of  New  Amsterdam  only 
thirty-five  years  after  the  Pilgrim  Fathers 
stepped  ashore  on  Plymouth  Eock. 


XVI 

A  COLLEGE  COMMENCEMENT  IN  TUR- 
KEY 


XVI 

A  COLLEGE  COMMENCEMENT  IN  TUR- 
KEY 

TWENTY-THREE  years  ago,  when  I  first 
represented  the  United  States  at  this  cap- 
ital [Constantinople],  it  was  my  privilege  to 
preside  at  the  commencement  of  Robert  Col- 
lege. Since  that  time  this  College  has  con- 
tinued to  grow  both  in  the  number  of  its  stu- 
dents and  of  its  faculty;  and  year  by  year  it 
has  sent  forth  increasing  classes  of  young  men 
who  have  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  its  educa- 
tional facilities.  This  College  was  originally 
founded  by  the  munificence  of  an  American 
merchant,  whose  aim  was  to  bring  to  the  young 
men  of  the  Orient  the  advantages  of  our  Amer- 
ican system  of  higher  education,  so  as  to  fit 
them  to  promote  the  welfare  and  the  best  in- 
terests of  this  Empire.  The  purpose  that  the 
founders  of  this  institution  had  in  view — 
Christopher  Robert,  the  munificent,  and  Cyrus 
Hamlin,  its  first  President  and  the  organizer 

297 


298  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

of  its  plan  and  scope — was  purely  benevolent. 
It  was  not  to  advance  America  in  Turkey,  but 
to  bring  to  Turkey  some  of  the  elements  that 
have  made  the  United  States  the  equal  of  any 
nation  on  the  globe.  That  country  has  no  po- 
litical objects  or  aims,  and  never  will  have,  in 
this  Empire.  She  seeks  for  her  citizens  equal 
rights,  the  same  that  she  accords  to  such  citi- 
zens and  subjects  of  other  countries  as  make 
their  homes  in  our  country.  Nowhere  in  the 
world  was  the  new  regime  of  Turkey  more  sin- 
cerely welcomed  than  in  the  United  States. 

This  College  was  not  founded,  nor  has  it 
been  sustained,  by  any  subvention  from  the 
American  Government,  but,  like  our  universi- 
ties at  home,  it  has  been  supported  from  first 
to  last  by  the  munificence  of  private  individu- 
als; and  only  last  year,  John  S.  Kennedy,  of 
New  York,  a  Scotchman  by  origin  and  an 
American  in  spirit  and  munificence,  who  for 
many  years  was  President  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  left  a  part  of  his  large  fortune  for 
its  development.  One  of  the  first  extensions 
to  be  made,  will  be  the  establishment  and 
equipment  of  an  engineering  and  electrical  de- 
partment, where  the  young  men  of  the  Balkan 
States  and  of  this  Empire  may  have  the  op- 


COMMENCEMENT  IN  TURKEY    299 

portunity  of  fitting  themselves  to  advance  the 
economic  interests  of  this  and  the  neighboring 
countries,  to  develop  their  resources,  and  to 
equip  this  Empire  with  those  mighty  forces 
which,  under  a  liberal  government,  will  bring 
happiness  and  wealth  to  its  people. 

Young  gentlemen,  both  graduates  and  un- 
der-graduates,  I  wish  you  to  bear  in  mind  that 
the  opportunities  for  education  are  of  no 
consequence  unless  you  have  the  energy,  the 
industry,  and  the  will  to  take  advantage  of 
them.  There  is  a  limit  to  what  others  can  do 
for  you.  Andrew  Carnegie,  who  by  thrift,  in- 
dustry and  ability,  amassed  one  of  the  greatest 
fortunes  of  the  world,  and  whose  practical 
benevolent  work  has  probably  been  greater 
than  that  of  any  single  man  in  all  history,  said 
that  in  trying  to  help  others,  all  that  we  can 
do  is  to  place  the  ladder  against  the  wall ;  the 
climbing  has  to  be  done  by  the  individual  him- 
self, no  one  can  mount  the  ladder  for  him. 

This  day  marks  your  commencement.  Here- 
tofore your  professors  and  tutors  have  shown 
you  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it;  from  this 
time  you  take  your  places  in  the  greater  world, 
and  you  will  have  to  rely  upon  yourselves  and 
do  for  yourselves.     The  task  is  not  easy,  and 


300  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

often  the  rewards  are  long  deferred.  There  is 
no  royal  road  to  knowledge  or  to  genuine  suc- 
cess. Kings  fail,  while  the  patient  struggling 
toiler  often  achieves  a  fame  that  outshines  the 
glory  of  kings.  The  more  difficult  the  path, 
the  greater  the  struggle,  and  often  the  richer 
are  the  rewards. 

Knowledge  and  success  are  democratic. 
Favoritism,  the  smile  of  kings,  and  the  privi- 
leges of  family  may  bestow  title  and  position, 
but  they  cannot  bestow  knowledge  or  the  suc- 
cess that  is  based  on  knowledge.  These  must 
be  won  by  individual  effort ;  these  are  rewards 
that  cannot  be  confined  to  birth,  rank,  or  sta- 
tion, but  belong  exclusively  to  the  toilers,  that 
privileged  class  whose  ranks  are  open  to  all, 
and  where  success  awaits  him  who  is  able  to 
achieve  it — that  class  from  whose  loins  have 
sprung  ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  of 
the  men  whose  names  are  recorded  on  the 
world's  roll  of  fame,  from  Homer  to  Shake- 
speare, from  Mohammed  to  Luther,  and  from 
Pericles  to  Washington. 

The  path  to  success  is  not  a  royal  road 
through  which  you  can  drive  two  abreast,  nor 
can  you  climb  it  on  a  donkey's  back.  Some 
try  it  that  way;  but  it  does  not  take  the  world 


COMMENCEMENT  IN  TURKEY     301 

long  to  discover  that  two  donkeys  are  travel- 
ing the  same  path.  You  must  especially  have 
a  care  not  to  handicap  yourselves  with  any 
obstructions  or  incumbrances,  but  to  expend 
your  energies  wisely,  for  along  that  path  no 
hostages  can  be  given  to  fortune.  You  must 
economize  your  money  and  your  time;  and  if 
you  have  no  money,  by  all  means  economize 
your  time  by  filling  it  with  useful  occupations, 
for  frivolous  fatigues  and  self-indulgence  are 
the  sirens  that  wreck  countless  thousands  on 
the  barren  rocks. 

Learn,  young  gentlemen,  to  depend  upon 
yourselves,  and  avoid  falling  into  the  habit  of 
blaming  others  for  your  own  defects  and  your 
own  defeats.  The  unsuccessful  always  cast 
the  blame  upon  the  wrong  person.  The  man 
who  holds  himself  responsible  has  discovered 
the  right  person  to  rely  upon,  the  one  who  can 
be  depended  upon,  in  season  and  out  of  sea- 
son, in  sunshine  and  in  storm,  to  do  his  best. 
The  man  who  learns  how  to  help  himself  best 
can  always  command  willing  hands  to  help 
him  do  better.  Those  who  fail  to  learn  this 
are  those  who  fill  the  world's  poorhouses. 
Success  is  not  won  by  the  choice  of  the  profes- 
sion or  calling  you  adopt — these  are  mere  in- 


302  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

cidents— but  by  the  amount  of  energy,  indus- 
try, and  ability  you  devote  to  your  careers. 
The  late  famous  railway  king  of  America  be- 
gan life  as  a  caiquejee  *  on  the  Hudson  River. 
The  greatest  President  of  the  United  States 
since  Washington  began  life  as  a  day  laborer 
on  a  farm,  earning  a  heshlih  ^  a  day.  A  son 
of  toil,  from  the  poorest  of  the  poor,  beset  with 
countless  obstacles,  with  no  family  or  friends 
to  help  him,  his  own  father  shiftless,  his  asso- 
ciates shiftless,  grown  almost  to  manhood  be- 
fore he  had  acquired  the  rudiments  of  a 
common-school  education,  yet  with  a  hopeful 
and  sunny  temperament,  with  a  tireless  energy 
and  an  iron  purpose,  he  strode  onward  and 
upward  until  he  reached  the  highest  pinnacle, 
from  which  he  struck  the  shackles  from  4,000,- 
000  slaves,  and,  with  a  firm  hand  and  a  pure 
heart,  guided  the  American  people  through  the 
most  trying  times  in  the  history  of  the  coun- 
try.   Such  was  Abraham  Lincoln. 

The  opportunities  that  here  have  been  given 
to  you  to  enjoy,  in  a  country  where  those  op- 
portunities as  yet  are  limited,  devolve  upon 
you  exceptional  responsibilities  to  serve  your 

1  Turkish  for  boatman. 

2  A  Turkish  coin  worth  about  20  cents. 


COMMENCEMENT  IN  TURKEY    303 

country  and  to  advance  her  best  interests. 
Education,  learning,  the  mental  weapons  to 
enable  one  to  achieve  success,  can  be  used  for 
evil  as  well  as  for  good;  therefore,  unless 
education  is  based  upon  character,  upon  truth, 
honesty  and  justice,  the  possessor  of  those 
qualities  becomes  the  ally  of  wrong  and  dark- 
ness instead  of  right  and  light.  I  am  sure  that 
this  principle  has  been  instilled  in  you  by 
every  member  of  the  faculty,  and  by  the  spirit 
of  this  institution ;  and  unless  you  hold  fast  to 
that  spirit,  all  that  you  have  learned  will  be 
like  ''pearls  thrown  before  swine."  I  trust 
you  will  not  leave  here  with  the  idea  that  book- 
learning  alone  is  education.  I  have  known  the 
most  ignorant  men,  from  all  useful  and  prac- 
tical points  of  view,  who  have  had  college 
education;  and  many  most  useful  and  in- 
formed men  who  have  Deen  deprived  of  edu- 
cational opportunities.  I  cannot  illustrate 
this  better  than  by  the  following  incident.  A 
story  is  told  that  in  the  middle  of  last  cen- 
tury the  first  Vanderbilt  visited  London  at 
the  time  when  Lord  Palmerston  was  Premier. 
Our  Minister  to  the  Court  of  Saint  James  was 
George  M.  Dallas.  At  that  time  the  American 
clipper  ship  was  the  best  built  vessel  that  trav- 


304  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ersed  the  ocean ;  and  Vanderbilt  was  the  larg- 
est owner  of  those  great  sailing-ships.  Lord 
Palmerston  asked  our  Minister  for  many  de- 
tails regarding  the  clipper  ships,  which  were 
the  admiration  of  all  nations,  and  our  Minister 
replied  that  he  was  not  informed  in  regard  to 
the  details,  but  suggested  that  Mr.  Vanderbilt, 
who  was  then  in  London,  could  give  the  infor- 
mation. A  few  days  afterward  Lord  Palmer- 
ston summoned  Vanderbilt,  and  put  to  him  a 
great  many  questions  regarding  the  construc- 
tion of  the  ships,  to  which  Vanderbilt  was  able 
to  give  accurate  and  definite  answers.  Van- 
derbilt was  what  is  called  a  self-educated  man. 
He  was  a  poor  boy,  and  began  early  in  life  to 
earn  his  living.  He  grew  in  knowledge  and  in 
experience  with  his  business,  and  he  spoke 
English  with  no  grammatical  accuracy.  Lord 
Palmerston,  after  this  interview  with  Vander- 
bilt, met  Dallas,  and  expressed  his  great  grati- 
fication for  the  information  so  readily  given  to 
him,  and  then  he  added :  "  It  is  a  pity  that  Van- 
derbilt, who  possesses  so  great  a  mind,  seems 
to  be  so  poorly  educated."  Dallas  repeated 
to  Vanderbilt  the  gratification  that  Lord  Palm- 
erston had  expressed,  and  in  frankness  added 
the  remark  about  education  that  his  Lordship 


COMMENCEMENT  IN  TURKEY     305 

had  made.  Vanderbilt  replied:  "You  tell 
Lord  Palmerston  that  if  I  had  learned  educa- 
tion I  would  not  have  learned  anything  else." 
In  other  words,  there  is,  in  some  important 
respects,  a  difference  between  knowledge  and 
book-learning;  and  there  may  be  much  book- 
learning  with  very  little  knowledge.  No  man 
can  ever  amount  to  much,  no  matter  how  much 
learning  he  may  have  absorbed,  unless  he  has 
a  well-regulated  ambition  to  perform  the  du- 
ties that  are  before  him.  I  would  compare  a 
man  with  much  learning  and  without  ambition 
to  a  furnace  filled  with  coal,  but  which  has  no 
adequate  flue  to  give  the  fire  a  living  draft. 

In  April,  1909,  the  people,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  great  and  wise  men,  accomplished,  as 
by  a  stroke,  one  of  the  greatest  reforms  that 
ever  have  been  witnessed  in  the  history  of  na- 
tions. The  most  crushing  form  of  absolutism 
was  overthrown,  and  a  modern  government, 
under  a  constitution  and  a  parliament  of  the 
people,  with  responsible  ministers,  and  under 
a  kind  and  patriotic  sovereign,  was  consti- 
tuted. Individual  liberty  was  made  secure, 
the  depressing  and  corrupt  spy  system  was 
abolished,  all  men  were  permitted  to  breathe 
freely,  and  the  national  life  of  Turkey  began 


306         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

anew.  All  this  happened  only  a  year  ago ;  and 
a  year  is  but  a  day  in  the  history  of  nations. 
There  are  many  who  find  fault  with  the  Gov- 
ernment, and  complain  that  so  little  material 
progress  has  been  made.  It  is  true  that  the 
economic  welfare  of  the  people  has  as  yet  been 
very  little  advanced ;  but  that  is  quite  natural. 
It  behooves  all  to  have  patience  and  support 
the  hands  of  the  Government ;  in  other  words, 
this  is  the  time  for  patriotism,  and  not  for 
fault-finding.  What  this  country  needs,  and 
what  every  country  must  have  if  based  upon 
a  parliamentary  system,  is  enlightened  public 
opinion;  and  there  is  no  higher  duty  incum- 
bent upon  educated  men,  there  is  no  more 
urgent  call  for  patriotism,  than  to  educate 
public  opinion ;  to  point  out  the  advantages  of 
the  new  system,  to  preach  patience  and  tolera- 
tion among  the  different  creeds  and  races,  to 
unify  the  people  and  to  teach  them  to  select 
the  best  men  to  represent  them  in  Parliament. 
In  the  words  of  Scripture :  ' '  Love  mercy,  do 
justly,  and  walk  humbly  with  thy  God. ' '  How 
beautiful  are  the  words  of  the  poet,  which  in 
this  land  of  many  creeds  and  races  have  a  spe- 
cial application: 


COMMENCEMENT  IN  TURKEY  307 

Shall   I   ask  the  brave  soldier  who  fights  by   my 
side 

In  the  cause  of  mankind,  if  our  creeds  agree? 
Shall  I  cast  off  the  friend  I  have  valued  and  tried, 

If  he  kneels  not  before  the  same  altar  with  me  ? 


XVII 

ROOSEVELT:   HIS   CATHOLICITY   AND 
STATESMANSHIP 


XVII 

EOOSEVELT:   HIS   CATHOLICITY   AND 
STATESMANSHIP 

THIS  government  was  formed  with,  as 
its  basic  idea,  the  principle  of  treating 
each  man  on  his  worth  as  a  man,  of  paying  no 
heed  as  to  whether  he  was  rich  or  poor,  no 
heed  to  his  creed  or  his  social  standing,  but 
only  to  the  way  in  which  he  performed  his  duty 
to  himself,  to  his  neighbor,  to  the  State." 
This  quotation  from  one  of  Mr.  Eoosevelt's 
addresses  expresses,  better  than  any  words  of 
mine,  the  catholic  spirit  which  has  ever  actu- 
ated him  in  public  as  well  as  in  private  life. 
Most  men  have  either  race,  religious,  or  na- 
tional prejudices.  Some  are  able  to  overcome 
them.  Roosevelt  seemed  to  me  never  to  have 
had  any  occasion  to  overcome  such  prejudices, 
as  they  never  found  lodgment  either  in  his 
heart  or  his  mind.  His  attitude  toward  the 
subject  of  immigration  has  ever  been  just, 
broad  and  humane,  recognizing  fully  and  gen- 

311 


312  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

erously  the  contributions  the  newcomers  have 
made  and  are  making  to  our  national  life. 

He  is  fond  of  dwelling  upon  our  composite 
citizenship  and  the  benefits  that  our  country, 
from  the  earliest  times,  has  derived  from  the 
newcomers.  At  the  Saengerfest  in  1903,  in 
Baltimore,  in  commending  the  German  immi- 
gration, he  said : 

Throughout  our  career  of  development  the  Ger- 
man immigration  to  this  country  went  steadily 
onward,  and  they  who  came  here  played  an  ever- 
increasing  part  in  the  history  of  our  people — a  part 
that  culminated  in  the  Civil  War :  for  every  lover  of 
the  Union  must  ever  bear  in  mind  what  was  done  in 
this  commonwealth,  as  in  the  commonwealth  of  Mis- 
souri, by  the  folk  of  German  birth  or  origin  who 
served  so  loyally  the  flag  that  was  theirs  by  m- 
heritance  or  adoption. 

In  his  address  at  the  unveiling  of  the  statue 
of  Frederick  the  Great  he  paid  a  beautiful 
tribute  to  the  men  of  German  origin  and  par- 
entage who  contributed  so  largely  to  our  na- 
tional development,  both  in  war  and  in  peace, 
from  the  beginning  of  our  history.  Among 
others  he  singled  out  John  Peter  Muhlenberg, 
a  general  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  after- 
ward a  member  of  the  first  House  of  Repre- 


ROOSEVELT  313 

sentatives;  Nicholas  Herkimer,  the  command- 
ing general  who  won  for  us  one  of  the  decisive 
battles  of  the  war  and  saved  the  Valley  of  the 
Mohawk  to  the  American  cause ;  and  the  mag- 
nificent services  rendered  by  the  gallant  Baron 
Steuben. 

He  rebuked  again  and  again  that  form 
of  sectionalism  and  narrow-mindedness  that 
would  make  an  invidious  distinction  among 
our  people  according  to  the  country  from 
which  they  or  their  ancestors  came.  Re- 
ferring to  this  spirit  of  separateness,  he  said: 

Here  on  this  Continent,  where  it  is  absolutely 
essential  that  the  different  peoples  coming  to  our 
shores  should  not  remain  separate,  but  should  fuse 
into  one,  our  unceasing  effort  is  to  strive  to  keep 
and  profit  by  the  good  that  each  race  brings  to  our 
shores,  and  at  the  same  time  do  away  with  all  racial 
and  religious  animosities  among  the  various  stocks. 

In  an  address  at  the  White  House,  in  wel- 
coming the  German  veterans  of  our  Civil  War, 
he  declared  that,  of  the  many  strains  that 
make  up  our  common  stock,  none  has  given  us 
better  Americans  than  those  of  German  birth 
and  blood ;  that  the  reverence  a  man  preserves 
for  his  native  land  or  the  land  of  his  fathers, 
instead  of  militating  against  his  loving  and 


314  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

doing  his  full  duty  by  the  land  of  his  adoption, 
should  help  him  to  be  a  better  and  more  patri- 
otic citizen.  ''If  a  man  is  a  good  son,  he  is 
apt  to  make  a  good  husband;  and  the  quality 
that  makes  a  man  reverence  the  country  of  his 
birth,  is  apt  to  be  the  quality  that  makes  him 
a  good  citizen  in  the  land  of  his  adoption." 
Referring  to  the  relationship  between  Ger- 
many and  the  United  States,  he  said  that  the 
ties  that  unite  them  are  many  and  close,  and 
*'it  must  be  a  prime  object  of  our  statesman- 
ship to  knit  the  two  nations  ever  closer  to- 
gether. In  no  country  is  there  a  warmer  ad- 
miration for  Germany  and  for  Germany's 
exalted  ruler,  Emperor  William,  than  here  in 
America." 

To  portray  adequately  the  catholicity  of 
Roosevelt  would  necessitate  the  writing  of  his 
public  life.  I  have  only  selected  a  few  pas- 
sages at  random  from  several  of  his  addresses. 
The  spirit  of  sectarianism  was  never  more 
emphatically  rebuked  than  by  him  after  the 
last  national  election,  in  replying  to  letters 
addressed  to  him  during  the  campaign,  by 
some  writers,  who  urged  against  Mr.  Taft  that 
he  was  a  Unitarian,  and  by  others,  that  mem- 
bers of  his  family  were  suspected  of  being 


ROOSEVELT  315 

members  of  the  Catholic  Church.  This  letter 
of  President  Eoosevelt's  deserves  to  be  treas- 
ured side  by  side  with  the  most  hallowed  doc- 
uments of  our  history.  To  quote  only  a  single 
clause,  he  said: 

In  my  cabinet  at  the  present  time  there  sit,  side 
by  side,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  Christian  and  Jew, 
each  man  chosen  because,  in  my  belief,  he  is  pecul- 
iarly fit  to  exercise,  on  behalf  of  all  our  people,  the 
duties  of  the  office  to  which  I  have  appointed  him. 
In  no  case  does  this  man's  religious  belief  in  any 
way  influence  his  discharge  of  his  duties,  save  as  it 
makes  him  more  eager  to  act  justly  and  uprightly 
in  his  relations  to  all  men. 

"We  are  as  yet  too  near  to  the  Roosevelt 
administration,  to  its  objects,  tendencies  and 
achievements,  to  estimate  properly  its  perma- 
nent impress  and  effect  upon  the  country  and 
the  life  of  our  people. 

Following  the  French  Revolution,  and  gen- 
erally throughout  Europe  after  the  uprising  of 
the  people  in  1848,  the  growth  of  the  capitalist 
class  began.  That  growth  developed  the  mod- 
ern commercial  spirit  which  produced  results 
the  most  beneficent  of  any  era  in  modern  times. 
The  commercial  spirit  was  democratic;  it 
rooted  out  old  class  prejudices,  and  tore  down 


316  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  political  barriers  that  enchained  the 
masses.  It  dignified  labor,  and  elevated  the 
laborer  from  serfdom  to  a  free  agent,  with 
rights  as  distinguished  from  restricted  benevo- 
lent privileges  such  as  the  master  concedes  to 
his  servants.  In  the  wake  of  this  change,  and 
largely  by  reason  of  it,  came  those  marvelous 
mechanical  inventions  in  every  sphere  of  in- 
dustry which  multiplied  a  hundred-fold  the 
productiveness  of  human  effort.  The  power 
of  the  capitalists,  which  grew  with  increased 
production,  rested  upon  the  growing  intelli- 
gence of  labor,  and  with  this  intelligence  was 
developed  organization,  and  then  came  de- 
mauds  on  the  part  of  the  wage-earners  for 
shorter  hours,  better  wages,  and  higher  stand- 
ards of  life  and  living;  in  other  words,  a  striv- 
ing for  better  conditions,  for  ''social  justice" 
—in  the  graphic  language  of  President  Roose- 
velt, a  demand  for  a  "square  deal."  This 
square  deal  signifies  equal  justice  to  all,  guard- 
ing the  rights  of  capital  and  at  the  same  time 
checking  the  greed  of  the  capitalist,  preventing 
the  encroachment  of  corporate  power  upon 
governmental  functions,  and  opening  wide  the 
highways  of  opportunity  for  the  individual 
American,    protecting   him    in   his   economic 


ROOSEVELT  317 

rights,  and  redressing  his  '^justified  griev- 
ances" in  the  light  of  the  modern  standards  of 
life  and  his  requirements  as  a  free  agent  in  a 
free  community. 

Our  country  in  its  development  has  passed 
through  two  distinct  political  stages.  First, 
its  national  construction  period  under  the 
fathers.  After  that  the  civil  rights,  or  pre- 
servative period,  and  now  we  are  in  the  third 
stage,  the  period  of  ''social  justice."  By  the 
providence  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  our  peo- 
ple, each  of  these  periods  developed  and 
brought  to  the  presidential  chair  the  philoso- 
pher and  statesman  equipped  with  the  quali- 
ties of  heart  and  mind  to  lead  the  country 
through  storm  and  stress,  amid  calumny  and 
abuse,  to  a  higher  and  broader  plane  of  right- 
eous democracy.  Washington  and  Lincoln, 
the  leaders  of  the  first  two  periods,  have 
passed  into  history.  The  third  period  is  in 
process  of  development,  its  leader  is  still  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  the  ship  is  sailing  by  the 
soundings  and  the  chart  this  great  pilot  has 
made. 

The  struggle  for  ''social  justice"  is  making 
itself  felt  in  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and 
France,  in  all  enlightened  lands.    It  can  not  be 


318  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ignored,  nor  can  it  be  suppressed;  but  with 
humane  foresight  and  statesmanly  wisdom  it 
can  be  guided.  The  disturbing  strivings  of 
one  age,  when  wisely  directed,  become  often 
the  constructive  and  preservative  forces  of  the 
ages  that  follow.  The  problems  of  this  strug- 
gle are  not  purely  economical.  The  old  laws 
of  the  economists  of  the  eighteenth  century,  of 
supply  and  demand,  when  applied  to  modern 
life  and  living,  to  wages  and  labor,  disre- 
garded the  human  side  and  worked  social  in- 
justice, which  our  new  and  enlarged  industrial 
system  intensifies  and  magnifies.  To  preserve 
the  benefits  and  to  correct  the  evils  of  this 
modern  industrial  development,  to  prevent  it 
from  crushing  under  its  iron  wheels  the  oppor- 
tunities and  prospects  of  the  plain  people,  that 
is  the  problem  of  ''social  justice." 

The  measures  formulated  into  law,  and  rec- 
ommended and  advocated  with  such  power  and 
force  by  President  Roosevelt  in  his  message  to 
Congress,  and  in  his  pubUc  addresses  during 
the  seven  years  of  his  administration,  were  de- 
voted to  this  great  problem.  Every  measure 
and  policy  of  the  Roosevelt  administration  was 
based  not  alone  upon  moral  convictions,  but 
upon  a  statesmanlike  forethought  and  forecast 


EOOSEVELT  319 

for  the  future  of  the  country.  That  he  en- 
countered the  violent  opposition  of  the  power- 
ful corporations  whose  expanded  vested  inter- 
ests not  only  eliminated  competition  but 
contracted  individual  rights,  was  to  be  ex- 
pected and  foreseen.  All  reforms  and  reform- 
ers have  encountered  the  reactionaries  of  priv- 
ilege and  power,  who  persuaded  themselves 
that  their  vested  interests,  however  acquired 
and  however  administered,  were  vested  rights. 
These  reactionaries,  when  not  checked  and 
made  obedient  to  the  legitimate  demands  and 
needs  of  the  many,  have  produced  a  strong 
revolutionary  movement  at  the  other  end  of  the 
social  system.  None  of  our  Presidents  has  pos- 
sessed, in  an  equal  degree,  a  mind  so  enriched 
with  an  historian's  knowledge  of  the  past, 
combined  with  a  statesman's  foresight  of  the 
future,  as  Roosevelt.  His  measures  have  all 
been  conceived  under  the  guidance  and  inspi- 
ration of  this  dual  equipment  of  retrospective 
knowledge  of  national  growth  and  prospective 
insight  into  national  tendencies.  With  that 
confidence  and  deep  sympathy  for  the  plain 
people  of  our  country,  upon  whose  judgment 
and  sense  of  justice  all  our  great  Presidents, 
in  times  of  transition  and  stress,  placed  their 


320  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ultimate  reliance,  Roosevelt  has  vitalized  and 
appealed  to  the  public  conscience  of  the  nation 
and  "has  given  an  impulse  to  ways  of  think- 
ing about  life  and  policies  that  will  ultimately 
bear  fruit  in  a  broader  democracy,  and  in- 
creased recognition  of  human  rights,  and  the 
establishment  of  a  wider  justice  on  a  firmer 
basis  of  morality  and  civilization."  * 

Though  born  an  aristocrat,  as  that  term  is 
used  among  us,  by  his  life  and  rugged  experi- 
ence among  the  pioneers  of  our  Western 
plains,  and  because  of  his  open-mindedness, 
his  wide  human  sympathies,  Theodore  Roose- 
velt, if  we  may  judge  from  the  record  of  his 
wonderful  career,  which  is  but  half  run,  has 
made  an  impress  upon  the  life  of  the  nation 
that  marks  him  as  the  foremost  champion  of 
social  justice.  Differ  with  him  as  you  may  as 
to  details,  and  criticize  the  power  and  tremen- 
dous energy  with  which  he  drove  forward  his 
uplifting  measures,  all  must  recognize  the 
effectiveness  of  his  high  purpose  in  directing 
the  material  forces  of  our  economic  age,  so  as 
to  broaden  and  better  the  opportunities  of  life 
and  living  for  the  average  American — man, 
woman,  and  child. 

1  Sydney  Brooks   in  the  Fortnightly  Review,  April,   1909. 


XVIII 
BAEON  MAURICE  DE  HIRSCH 


XVIII 
BAEON  MAUEICE  DE  HIRSCH 

WHEN  the  news  was  flashed  across  the 
ocean  that  Baron  de  Hirsch  was  dead, 
it  caused  a  pang  of  sorrow  over  the  four  quar- 
ters of  the  earth.  Men  stopped,  with  hushed 
breath  and  heavy  hearts,  and  silently  paid 
homage  to  him  whose  benefactions  circled  the 
globe  from  the  pyramids  to  the  Golden  Gate. 
Baron  de  Hirsch  cannot  be  measured  by  ordi- 
nary standards;  his  activity  was  both  varied 
and  colossal,  whether  as  financier,  organizer, 
railroad  constructor,  diplomat,  statesman,  man 
of  the  world,  or  philanthropist.  But  as  the 
rivulets  run  into  rivers,  and  the  rivers  flow 
into  the  ocean,  so  did  all  these  qualities  culmi- 
nate in  equipping  him  with  the  resources, 
power,  and  capacity  of  becoming  the  leader  of 
a  gigantic  exodus  of  his  fellow  religionists. 
He  had  a  wonderful  capacity  for  making 
money,  but  more  wonderful  still  was  his 
heaven-given  impulse  to  do  the  most  good  with 

323 


324  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

it.  His  gigantic  enterprises  in  constructing 
those  arteries  of  civilization,  the  railroads, 
through  benighted  lands,  through  Russia, 
Roumania,  and  Turkey,  brought  him  into  close 
relations  not  only  with  the  Czar  and  the  Sul- 
tan, with  ministers  and  diplomats,  but  also 
with  the  humblest  hewers-of-wood  and  draw- 
ers-of-water,  the  men  who  plied  the  shovel  and 
wielded  the  pickaxe  in  making  the  road-bed 
for  his  iron  horses. 

A  few  details  of  family  history,  and  a  brief 
reference  to  his  numerous  benefactions,  may 
precede  a  fuller  consideration  of  Baron  de 
Hirsch's  philanthropic  aims  and  methods. 
He  was  born  on  December  9th,  1831.  His 
grandfather,  Jacob  Hirsch,  born  in  Bavaria  in 
1764,  founded  the  financial  eminence  of  the 
family,  was  appointed  royal  Bavarian  court 
banker,  and  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  the  no- 
bility. He  was  a  man  of  generous  nature  and 
great  public  spirit,  and  in  him  the  noble  bias 
for  philanthropy  which  distinguished  his  son 
and  grandson  was  notably  shown  in  'many 
charitable  works.  His  second  son,  Joseph, 
succeeded  the  father  as  court  banker,  and  by 
his  ability  and  enterprise  greatly  increased 
the  financial  and  commercial  importance  of  the 


BARON  MAURICE  DE  HIRSCH    325 

family.  King  Louis  11  raised  him  to  the 
hereditary  baronage  in  recognition  of  *'his 
fidelity  to  the  throne  and  in  acknowledgment 
of  his  many  useful  works."  His  eldest  son, 
Baron  Maurice  de  Hirsch,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  after  a  plain  but  sound  education  and 
some  time  spent  in  his  father's  counting-house, 
engaged  in  business  on  his  own  account.  In 
1855,  having  married  a  daughter  of  Senator 
Bischoifsheim,  of  Brussels,  he  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  banking  house  of  Bischoffsheim  and 
Goldschmidt.  He  soon  became  the  master 
mind  of  the  bank,  and  from  this  time  his  finan- 
cial, commercial,  and  railroad  enterprises  were 
a  record  of  unbroken  successes  scarcely  paral- 
leled. But  in  the  midst  of  these  successes  his 
generous  heart  and  alert  mind  kept  in  close 
touch  with  plans,  broadly  conceived  and  skil- 
fully realized,  for  uplifting  his  fellowmen. 

He  was  probably  most  generally  known  and 
esteemed  in  England,  although  he  prized  his 
connection  with  Austria-Hungary,  of  which  he 
was  a  domiciled  subject  and  where  he  had  his 
chief  place  of  residence.  His  benefactions  in 
England  were  for  the  general  good,  including 
splendid  gifts  to  hospitals  and  other  chari- 
table institutions.    Vienna,  Buda-Pesth,  Cra- 


326         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

cow,  Lemberg,  and  other  cities  also  benefited 
by  the  Baron's  generosity.  The  Alliance 
Israelite  Universelle,  an  association  founded 
for  the  education  of  Jews  in  the  East,  has  also 
derived  practical  support  from  the  Baron's 
munificence.  On  learning  that  the  funds  of 
the  Alliance  had  proved  insufficient  for  the 
maintenance  of  its  schools,  he  presented  a 
large  sum  to  supply  deficits,  continued  his  aid 
for  several  years,  and  in  1889  consolidated  his 
donations  and  replaced  them  by  a  fund  whose 
annual  income  of  $80,000  is  used  in  the  mainte- 
nance of  elementary  and  apprenticing  schools. 

It  was  in  behalf  of  plans  for  Jewish  emigra- 
tion and  colonization,  however,  that  his  most 
earnest  efforts  were  enlisted.  He  endowed  a 
trust  fund  for  the  benefit  of  Russian  Jews  who 
had  settled  in  the  United  States,  and  also  es- 
tablished a  colony  of  Russian  Jews  in  the  Ca- 
nadian Northwest.  His  chief  concern,  as  is 
well-known,  was  for  the  betterment  of  his  op- 
pressed co-religionists  in  Russia. 

With  the  accession  of  the  late  Czar  came  a 
policy  of  reaction,  devised  with  the  finesse  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  but  outstripping  in  its 
diabolical  purposes  the  barbarity  of  the  Mid- 
dle Ages.    The  inspirer  of  this  ungodly  cm- 


BAEON  MAURICE  DE  HIKSCH    327 

sade  against  five  millions  of  peaceful,  unof- 
fending, and  loyal  subjects,  is  the  Chief  Pro- 
curator of  the  Holy  Synod  of  the  Eussian 
Orthodox  Church.  When  asked  how  those  in- 
famous ''May  laws,"  which  embody  his  policy, 
would  rid  Russia  of  five  million  Jews,  he  is 
reputed  to  have  answered,  "One  third  will  be 
driven  into  exile,  one  third  will  be  forced  to 
conversion,  and  one  third  will  die  of  hunger. ' ' 
This  was  in  1881  and  1882,  and  the  enforce- 
ment of  those  laws  has  been  accompanied  by 
pillage,  burning,  and  death.  Baron  de  Hirsch 
was  then  fifty  years  of  age,  engrossed  in  his 
many  affairs.  To  the  surprise  of  every  one 
he  stopped,  in  mid-career,  marshaled  his  re- 
sources, and  turned  his.  active  brain  and  tire- 
less energy  to  the  problem  of  reclaiming  his 
suffering  co-religionists  from  humiliation 
worse  than  slavery,  from  starvation  and  de- 
struction. His  first  move  was  to  offer  to  the 
Czar,  through  this  same  Chief  of  the  Holy 
Synod,  fifty  million  francs  for  education  in 
Russia,  to  be  applied  without  distinction  of 
creed  or  race,  hoping  that  the  dissemination 
of  education,  mechanical  and  mental,  would  in 
the  end  induce  a  better  condition,  from  the 
lowest  to  the  highest  of  the  Czar's  subjects. 


328  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

Russian  autocracy,  which  was  framing  laws  to 
limit,  not  to  extend,  the  advantages  of  educa- 
tion, rejected  the  munificent  offer  unless  Baron 
de  Hirsch  would  remove  his  conditions  and 
permit  the  expenditure  to  be  made  as  the 
Czar  and  his  ministers  saw  fit.  But  Baron  de 
Hirsch  was  too  well-acquainted  with  Russian 
officials  to  part  with  his  money  in  order  to  line 
the  pockets  and  adorn  the  palaces  of  the  per- 
secuting Russian  ministers  of  state. 

The  great  philanthropist,  in  his  affinities, 
friendships,  and  associations,  was  neither 
Christian  nor  Jew,  but  cosmopolitan.  Creed 
lines  had  no  significance  for  him.  He  was 
already  well-known  for  his  generous  contribu- 
tions in  many  directions  and  for  many  causes. 
The  misery,  and  not  the  race  or  the  religion 
of  the  Russian  Jews,  attached  Baron  de  Hirsch 
to  their  cause  and  summoned  him,  as  by  a 
voice  from  God,  to  assume  the  colossal  task  of 
devising  plans  and  pouring  out  his  treasures 
with  endless  munificence  for  colonizing  them  in 
other  lands.  In  a  magazine  article  published 
five  years  ago,  he  said : 

In  relieving  human  suffering  I  never  ask  whether 
the  cry  of  necessity  comes  from  a  being  who  belongs 
to  my  own  faith  or  not;  but  what  is  more  natural 


BARON  MAURICE  DE  HIRSCH    329 

than  that  I  should  find  my  highest  purpose  in  bring- 
ing to  the  followers  of  Judaism,  who  have  been 
oppressed  for  a  thousand  years,  who  are  starving 
in  misery,  the  possibility  of  a  physical  and  moral 
regeneration? — than  that  I  should  try  to  free  them, 
to  build  them  up  into  capable  citizens,  and  thus 
furnish  humanity  with  much  new  and  valuable  ma- 
terial? Every  page  in  the  history  of  the  Jews 
teaches  us  that  in  thinking  this  I  am  following  no 
Utopian  theory,  and  I  am  confident  that  such  a 
result  can  be  attained. 

Here  let  me  say  in  answer  to  some  evil-dis- 
posed critics  who,  incapable  of  adequately  ap- 
preciating the  magnificent  unselfishness  of  the 
man  and  the  boundless  scope  of  his  philan- 
thropy, have  attributed  his  enormous  benefac- 
tions to  the  bereavement  he  had  suffered  in 
the  death  of  his  only  son — a  handsome  young 
man  of  brilliant  promise — that  he  had  begun 
to  devote  his  energies  to  the  self-imposed  task 
of  his  life  before  this  calamity  befell  him. 
For  years  he  had  given  annually  very  large 
sums  to  maintain  ordinary  and  trade  schools, 
hospitals,  and  asylums  throughout  the  Oriental 
countries.  He  had  maintained  hospitals  and 
had  given  large  sums  of  money  for  relief  dur- 
ing the  Russo-Turkish  war,  and  had  sent  one 
million  francs  to  the  Empress  of  Russia  for 


330  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

charitable  purposes.  He  had  begun  negotia- 
tions for  a  foundation,  which  was  enlarged  to 
twenty-five  million  francs,  for  educational  in- 
stitutions in  Galicia  consisting  of  forty  insti- 
tutions, wherein  five  thousand  pupils,  without 
distinction  of  creed,  are  being  instructed.  He 
had  hoped  that  his  son — who  doubtless  would 
have  realized  the  hope  had  he  been  spared — 
would  make  it  the  aim  of  his  life  to  carry  for- 
ward and  perfect  his  projected  works  of 
benevolence  and  philanthropy.  The  loss  of 
this  promising  son  was  a  severe  blow  to  him, 
and  doubtless  had  the  effect  of  enlarging  and 
extending  his  benefactions.  On  one  occasion 
when  it  was  remarked  that  Baron  de  Hirsch 
had  lost  his  son  and  heir,  he  replied:  "My 
son  I  have  lost,  but  not  my  heir;  humanity  is 
my  heir." 

Following  an  interview,  partly  true  and 
partly  not,  a  rumor  was  circulated  that  he  held 
that  the  Jews  of  Russia  should  abandon  their 
faith  and  become  Christians.  To  correct  this 
he  sent  a  reply  to  some  gentlemen  in  England, 
therein  declaring  he  had  hoped  that  he  had 
given  too  many  proofs  of  his  devotion  to 
Judaism  and  to  the  Jews  to  be  suspected  of 
hostility  to  a  people  he  had  defended  with  so 


BARON  MAURICE  DE  HIRSCH    331 

nrncli  spirit  and  supported  with  his  resources. 
Profoundly  afflicted  at  seeing  so  many  of  his 
co-religionists  reduced  to  misery  by  reason  of 
religious  or  racial  hatred,  he  desired  simply 
and  plainly  to  tell  the  anti-Semites  that  perse- 
cution intensified  religious  sentiments  and 
defeated  the  very  objects  they  sought  to  attain. 
He  added,  '' Remove  every  barrier,  admit  your 
Jewish  compatriots  to  every  right  and  the  ad- 
vantages of  social  life,  and  there  will  be  more 
chances  for  effecting  the  fusion  which  they  ap- 
pear desirous  of  bringing  about." 

To  perfecting  and  carrying  forward  his  plan 
of  relief,  Baron  de  Hirsch,  cosmopolitan  as  he 
was,  speaking  half  a  dozen  languages  with 
readiness,  and  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  many 
of  the  rulers  and  statesmen  of  Europe,  applied 
all  his  vast  powers  and  opportunities.  There 
is  little  doubt  that  his  social  relations  with 
princes  and  statesmen,  philosophers  and  liter- 
ary men,  were,  in  many  instances,  cultivated 
as  influential  channels  to  further  his  philan- 
thropic plans,  just  as  an  ambassador,  singly 
devoted  to  his  country's  welfare,  utilizes  so- 
cial life  to  advance  interests  committed  to  his 
charge.  That  such  was  his  purpose,  and  not 
to  gratify  any  personal  ambition,  is  shown  by 


332  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

the  absence  of  vanity  in  his  nature.  No  ap- 
peals made  to  him  to  set  aside  funds,  or  to 
make  public  donations,  for  the  erection  of 
buildings  and  monuments  to  perpetuate  his 
name,  ever  enticed  him  to  divert  his  money 
from  his  plans  of  philanthropy.  He  was  not 
an  ascetic,  but  rather  a  Sybarite.  He  loved 
fine  horses,  equipages,  and  the  luxuries  of 
life.  Whatever  he  undertook  he  did  on  a  large 
scale,  whether  as  financier,  as  philanthropist, 
or  as  an  owner  of  racers.  Even  his  pleasures 
contributed  to  charitable  enterprises.  His 
winnings  on  the  turf  and  the  proceeds  from  the 
sale  of  his  horses,  aggregating  half  a  million 
dollars,  he  distributed  among  the  London  hos- 
pitals. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  give  a  complete 
list  of  Baron  de  Hirsch's  benefactions,  but  the 
following  are  probably  the  best  known :  Jewish 
Colonization  Association,  $50,000,000;  De 
Hirsch  Trust  for  the  United  States,  $2,500,000 ; 
Trust  Fund  for  education  in  Galicia,  $5,- 
000,000;  Fund  for  assistance  of  tradesmen  in 
Vienna  and  Buda-Pesth,  $1,455,000;  Fund  for 
the  Hungarian  poor,  $1,455,000,  Turf  win- 
nings during  1891-4,  distributed  for  charitable 
purposes,  $500,000;  Gift  to  the  Empress  of 


BARON  MAURICE  DE  HIRSCH    333 

Russia  for  charitable  purposes  during  Russo- 
Turkish  war,  $200,000;  Gifts  in  1893  to  Lon- 
don hospitals  and  other  charities,  $200,000; 
Gifts  to  Alliance  Israelite  Universelle, 
$400,000;  Proceeds  of  the  sale  of  his  son's  rac- 
ing stud,  distributed  among  charities,  $60,000. 
These  alone  amount  to  the  enormous  sum  of 
nearly  $62,000,000. 

His  constant  care  was,  not  to  overcrowd  tlie 
lands  to  which  his  army  emigrated;  he  did 
more  than  all  restrictive  laws  have  done  to 
regulate  the  exodus  and  the  immigration,  to 
select  men  who  would  apply  themselves  to 
handicrafts  and  principally  to  agriculture. 
He  had  an  abiding  faith  that  the  Jews  of  Rus- 
sia, if  properly  directed,  would  again  become 
tillers  of  the  earth,  as  their  forefathers  had 
been  in  Babylon  and  Judea.  He  never  tired 
of  dwelling  upon  the  importance  of  directing 
the  immigrants  in  these  channels  exclusively, 
so  that  they  would  become  a  part  of  the  sturdy 
yeomanry  of  the  countries  wherein  they 
settled,  and  would  realize  the  promise  of 
peace  and  security  contained  in  the  Book  of 
Micah:  ''But  they  shall  sit  every  man  under 
his  vine  and  under  his  fig  tree ;  and  none  shall 
make  them  afraid."    These  views  were  clearly 


334  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

and  forcibly  expressed  by  Baron  de  Hirsch  in 
The  Forum  for  August,  1891.  He  wrote: 
''In  the  lands  where  Jews  have  been  per- 
mitted to  acquire  landed  property,  where  they 
have  found  opportunity  to  devote  themselves 
to  agriculture,  they  have  proved  themselves  ex- 
cellent farmers.  For  example,  in  Hungary 
they  form  a  very  large  part  of  the  tillers  of 
the  soil,  and  this  fact  is  acknowledged  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  high  Catholic  clergy  in  Hun- 
gary almost  exclusively  have  Jews  as  tenants 
on  mortmain  properties,  and  almost  all  large 
landholders  give  preference  to  the  Jews  on 
account  of  their  industry,  their  rectitude,  and 
their  dexterity.  These  are  facts  that  cannot 
be  hid,  and  have  force,  so  that  the  anti-Semitic 
movement,  which  for  a  long  time  flourished  in 
Hungary,  must  expire.  It  will  expire  because 
every  one  sees  that  so  important  a  factor  in 
the  productive  activity  of  the  country,  espe- 
cially in  agriculture,  cannot  be  spared.  My 
own  personal  experience,  too,  has  led  me  to 
recognize  that  the  Jews  have  very  good  ability 
in  agriculture.  I  have  seen  this  personally  in 
the  Jewish  agricultural  colonies  of  Turkey, 
and  the  reports  from  the  expedition  that  I 
have  sent  to  the  Argentine  Republic  plainly 


BAEON  MAURICE  DE  HIKSCH    335 

show  the  same  fact.  These  convictions  led  me 
to  my  activity  to  better  the  unhappy  lot  of 
the  poor  down-trodden  Jews,  and  my  efforts 
shall  show  that  the  Jews  have  not  lost  the  agri- 
cultural qualities  that  their  forefathers  pos- 
sessed. I  shall  try  to  make  for  them  a  new 
home  in  different  lands,  where,  as  free  farm- 
ers, on  their  own  soil,  they  can  make  them- 
selves useful  to  the  country.'^ 

In  the  prosecution  of  his  plans  he  searched 
in  every  direction  for  reliable  and  responsible 
agents,  men  who  combined  brain  with  heart 
for  the  work,  especially  avoiding  those  who 
clamored  for  lucrative  employment,  who 
stormed  his  door  and  filled  his  mails  with 
applications.  He  cared  not  to  what  religious 
sect  such  agents  belonged;  he  wanted  men, 
true  men  of  capacity,  whose  hearts  throbbed 
with  philanthropic  impulses.  His  most  valued 
assistant  in  all  his  work  was  his  wife,  with 
whom  he  took  counsel  and  to  whom  he  imparted 
every  detail,  who  read  his  letters  and  assisted 
in  his  correspondence,  who  accompanied  him 
in  his  travels  and  shared  his  every  hope  and 
encouragement — for  discouragement  he  never 
entertained.  Baroness  de  Hirsch  is  a  remark- 
able woman,  kind,  gentle,  accomplished,  and 


336         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

most  simple  in  her  tastes.  She  is  a  Lady 
Bountiful  wherever  she  goes,  and  spends  a 
large  part  of  her  separate  fortune  in  main- 
taining schools,  asylums,  and  hospitals,  which 
she  visits  personally  and  directs  with  discrimi- 
nation and  judgment.  At  Constantinople,  I 
have  known  her  day  after  day  to  visit  the 
poorer  quarters  of  the  city — and  they  are  very 
poor — and  relieve  with  her  own  hands  the 
misery  and  poverty  among  Mohammedans, 
Christians,  and  Jews. 

Until  his  death,  ten  years  ago,  one  of  the 
most  efficient  of  Baron  de  Hirsch's  agents  was 
the  Chevalier  Veneziani,  who  installed  several 
Masonic  lodges  in  the  Orient  and  expended 
large  sums  of  money  for  the  Baron  in  estab- 
lishing hospitals,  homes,  and  schools.  The 
Baron  was  instrumental  in  inducing  Hall 
Caine,  author  of  ''The  Manxman,"  to  visit 
Russia  a  few  years  ago  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  condition  of  the  peasants  and  the 
lower  classes.  Mr.  Caine,  it  is  believed,  made 
a  report  to  the  Baron,  but  he  was  so  impressed, 
or  depressed,  with  the  sadness  of  the  condi- 
tions he  there  found,  that  he  has  not  as  yet 
been  able  to  write  and  publish  the  result  of  his 
observations.    Mr.  Arnold  White,  an  authority 


BARON  MAURICE  DE  HIRSCH   337 

on  sociological  questions,  who  has  had  much 
experience  among  the  lower  classes  in  London 
and  on  the  Continent,  was  sent  by  Baron  de 
Hirsch  on  a  mission  to  Russia.  He  selected 
Mr.  White  because  of  that  experience  and  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  the  latter  in  his  writings 
had  shown  himself  rather  prejudiced  against 
his  cause.  The  Baron  wanted  light,  not  senti- 
ment, to  guide  him  in  his  vast  plans,  believing 
as  he  did  that  permanent  good  is  only  defeated 
by  the  temporary  expedients  that  sentiment 
interposes.  He  realized  that  colonizing  was 
like  planting  trees — it  required  time  to  bear 
fruit;  his  hopes  rested  upon  the  children  of 
the  emigrants  and  upon  the  succeeding  gener- 
ation. The  forty  years  in  the  wilderness 
might  be  shortened,  but  not  escaped,  until  the 
Promised  Land  should  give  its  blessings. 

Baron  de  Hirsch 's  noble  work  does  not  cease 
with  his  death,  but  rests  on  carefully  planned 
foundations,  administered  by  agents  whom  he 
chose  in  the  several  countries.  His  idea  was, 
that  in  time  the  work  would  be  self-acting  and 
that  the  first  comers,  after  they  were  settled 
and  had  reached  a  certain  degree  of  independ- 
ence, would  attract  others  to  themselves  and 
lead  out  more  and  more  of  their  brethren,  so 


338  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

that  in  another  generation  Russia,  freed  in 
part  from  the  activity  and  energy  of  the  Jews, 
•would  learn  to  appreciate  their  economic 
value,  or  like  another  Spain,  meet  her  deserved 
fate  and  become  a  helpless  victim  of  her  own 
intolerance. 

The  Baron  never  took  part  in  politics  in  any 
form;  they  were  not  to  his  taste.  He  doubt- 
less recognized  that  favoring  one  side  would 
array  the  other  side  against  his  project  for  the 
relief  of  the  Russian  Jews.  He  admired  men 
with  courage  and  firmness  for  the  right,  and 
when  he  learned  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  election 
to  the  Presidency  in  1892  he  wrote  me  a  let- 
ter expressing  his  congratulations  to  the  coun- 
try in  selecting  as  its  Chief  Executive  a  man 
of  liberal  views  and  large  heart,  who  stood 
firmly  upon  his  convictions  as  against  expedi- 
ency or  policy. 

Baron  de  Hirsch  is  the  Napoleon  of  this 
great  exodus;  and  for  every  life  that  great 
Liberator  of  the  Jews  of  France  lost  in  his 
Russian  campaign.  Baron  de  Hirsch  has  led 
out  two  lives,  whose  children's  children  will 
not  forget  Russia,  but  will  swell  the  ranks  of 
the  sons  of  liberty,  and  in  the  end  will  triumph 
where  Napoleon  failed.    There  is  something 


BARON  MAURICE  DE  HIRSCH    339 

greater  than  autocratic  power  or  the  power  of 
armies  or  of  navies — and  that  is  the  aroused 
indignation  of  the  civilized  world.  Before  the 
altar  of  eternal  right  and  justice  kings  must 
bend  the  knee  and  dynasties  molder  into  dust — 

For  freedom's  battle,  once  begun, 
Bequeathed  by  bleeding  sire  to  son, 
Though  baffled  oft,  is  ever  won.  ' 


XIX 

GENERAL  BARON  T.  KUROKI  OF  THE 
JAPANESE  ARMY 


XIX 

GENERAL  BARON  T.  KUROKI  OF  THE 
JAPANESE  ARMY 

ALL  mankind  loves  a  lover,"  and  the 
whole  world  honors  a  hero,  especially 
if  his  laurels  have  been  won  in  a  just  cause. 
France  had  her  Napoleon,  England  her  Well- 
ington, Germany  her  Moltke,  America  had  her 
Grant  and  has  her  Dewey,  and  Japan  has  her 
Kuroki.  Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of 
nations  as  well  as  of  nature;  and  even  those 
of  us  who  took  part  in  the  great  Peace  Con- 
gress that  only  a  few  weeks  ago  echoed  its 
messages  of  hope  from  so  many  platforms, 
must  recognize  the  potency  and  necessity  of 
that  law  of  nations. 

More  important  than  the  limitation  of  arma- 
ments is  limitation  of  the  causes  of  war,  and 
this  can  be  done  best  by  infusing  into  interna- 
tional relations  the  hypodermic  solution  of  in- 
ternational morality.  Within  the  memory  of 
the  living,   the   so-called   code   of  honor  be- 

343 


344  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

tween  individuals  has  practically  disap- 
peared, and  the  code  of  law  has  replaced 
it,  to  the  credit  of  our  civilization.  A  like 
transformation  is  taking  place  in  the  field 
of  international  ethics,  so  that  the  so-called 
doctrine  of  expediency  based  upon  might  is 
fast  giving  way  to  the  principles  of  interna- 
tional relations  based  upon  right. 

No  country  and  no  people  in  the  history  of 
ancient  or  modern  civilization  has  ever  gone 
through  a  more  rapid  renaissance  than  the 
Island  Kingdom  of  Japan,  and  that  is  because 
''this  child  of  the  world's  old  age"  had  been 
brought  up  by  parents  who  had  lived  through 
centuries  of  development  and  civilization, 
which  served  her  as  a  springboard  to  leap 
within  a  generation  from  out  of  her  oriental 
slumbers  to  the  front  rank  among  nations.  It 
was  but  half  a  century  ago  that  the  United 
States,  through  Commodore  Perry,  took  Japan 
by  the  hand  and  led  her  out  of  her  oriental 
seclusion  and  showed  her  the  triumphs  of  our 
western  civilization  and  introduced  her  with 
proverbial  American  hospitality  to  the  council- 
board  of  western  nations.  From  that  time  to 
this,  the  closest  relations  of  amity  and  friend- 
ship have  continued  between  our  country  and 


GENERAL  BARON  T.  KUROKI    345 

Japan.  Thirty  years  later  our  country  fol- 
lowed Great  Britain  in  recognizing  the  won- 
derful progress  in  all  that  constitutes  a  civil- 
ized nation  by  conceding  to  Japan  the  full 
rights  of  an  independent  nation,  and  in  con- 
senting to  the  abolition  of  extraterritorial 
privileges,  and  endowing  her  with  full  and 
complete  judicial  autonomy.  The  Government 
and  people  of  Japan,  not  unmindful  of  the 
good  will  and  sponsorship  of  our  country,  are 
too  wise  to  permit  the  San  Francisco  school 
incident,  which  was  fostered  by  ignorance  and 
propagated  by  injustice,  to  cloud  their  just 
appreciation  of  the  enlightened  spirit  of 
American  institutions. 

Japan,  alone  among  nations,  has  given  the 
world  an  example  how  a  people  can  throw 
off  the  shackles  of  an  oppressive  autocracy 
and  endow  itself  with  all  the  safeguards  of 
liberty  and  justice  under  a  constitutional  form 
of  government,  by  following  along  the  paths 
of  peaceful  evolution,  instead  of  going  through 
the  terrible  struggles  and  devastation  of  bloody 
revolutions.  Japan  is  the  land  of  liberty,  civil 
and  religious.  Her  religious  liberty  is  even 
far  in  advance  of  nations  who  pride  them- 
selves upon  this  most  precious  of  national  vir- 


346  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

tues.  Her  people  have  no  prejudices  based 
upon  religious  or  ecclesiastical  grounds,  and 
all  men  of  every  church  and  creed  are  free  to 
worship  their  God  in  accordance  with  the  dic- 
tates of  their  own  conscience,  in  the  fullest 
and  widest  acceptation  of  the  meaning  of  re- 
ligious liberty. 

Japan,  which  has  learned  much  from  the 
West,  has  even  more  to  teach  the  West.  Per- 
sistency, self-control,  and  preparedness  are 
among  her  national  qualities;  her  officers  ex- 
emplify the  highest  skill  united  with  the  high- 
est patriotism;  her  soldiers,  while  reckless  in 
their  bravery  in  sacrificing  their  own  lives,  are 
uniformly  humane  even  to  their  enemies,  and 
no  nation  is  served  by  a  more  competent  dip- 
lomatic body — men  of  reliability,  judgment, 
and  moderation.  We  heartily  welcome  her 
conquering  hero,  who  has  fought  battles  that 
will  rank  among  the  greatest  in  history,  and 
whose  army  has  never  met  with  defeat.  What 
is  the  message  that  this  great  and  modest  hero 
brings  to  us?  Permit  me  to  quote  his  own 
words;  ''The  Japanese  people  love  peace  and 
want  peace.  They  fought  for  peace,  which 
without  fighting  could  not  have  been.  My  na- 
tion wants  peace — peace  in  which  to  develop. 


GENERAL  BARON  T.  KUROKI    347 

We  have  no  other  desire.  The  profession  it 
is  my  fate  to  follow  is  noble  only  in  that  it  is 
sometimes  useful  in  establishing  conditions  in 
which  peace  may  be  maintained  and  the  arts 
of  peace  may  flourish."  Nobler  sentiments 
never  fell  from  the  lips  of  a  conquering  hero. 
They  will  stand  beside  those  that  were  uttered 
by  the  hero  of  Appomattox,  who  said,  ' '  Let  us 
have  peace." 

General  Kuroki,  may  the  memory  of  your 
glorious  victories,  which  have  shed  so  much 
honor  upon  the  armies  of  Japan,  give  to  her 
people  unending  years  of  peace,  happiness,  and 
prosperity. 


CAEDINAL  FAKLEY 


CARDINAL  FARLEY 

WHEN  I  walked  along  Fifth  Avenue  a  few 
nights  ago  I  saw  Saint  Patrick's  Cathe- 
dral illuminated  in  honor  of  Cardinal  Farley. 
Its  Gothic  doors  and  windows,  its  fagades, 
arches  and  spires  were  one  blaze  of  light, 
shedding  its  brilliant  rays  over  the  city.  This 
emblematically  suggested  to  my  mind  that 
when  a  good  man  rises  to  greatness  and  ex- 
alted place,  his  glory  belongs  not  exclusively 
to  one  church,  to  one  sect,  to  one  district,  but 
to  all  churches,  to  the  people  at  large,  to  this 
great  city,  to  the  nation  over  which  has  spread 
the  influence  of  his  career  and  his  beneficent 
services.  For  that  reason  we  receive  with 
joy  and  glorification  the  noble  priest  who  has 
come  back  to  us  from  Rome  with  his  Cardinal 
investiture.  We  are  all  proud  and  happy  that 
this  signal  recognition  has  been  given  by  the 
Holy  Father  to  an  eminent  and  distinguished 

351 


352  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

American  whose  whole  life  has  been  consecra- 
ted to  benevolent  work  and  patriotic  services. 
As   Cardinal   Gibbons    said   of  our   distin- 
guished guest  a  few  evenings  ago,  ''although 
not  a  politician,  his  Eminence  is  a  statesman 
and  a  patriot.     He  is  a  lover  of  his  country, 
and  we  need  Cardinal  Farley  to  protect  us 
against  the  evils  of  sedition  and  other  dangers 
that  beset  us.'^    And  may  I  say  further,  we 
need  Cardinal  Farley,  whose  career  has  been 
a  blessing  from  a  humble  priest  to  a  prince  of 
the  church,  whose  fifty  years  of  service  have 
been  devoted  to  guiding  the  rich  in  paths  of 
righteousness,  and  to  uplifting  the  poor  and 
making  their  lives  more  happy  and  hopeful, 
all  the  time  building  the  bulwarks  of  peace  and 
order,  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brother- 
hood of  man.    We  need  a  constant  and  fuller 
appreciation  of  the  blessings  of  opportunity 
and  life  that  are  ours  under  our  free  demo- 
cratic institutions.    We  need  a  broader  toler- 
ance intensified  by  a  generous  respect  for  one 
another's  religious  convictions  in  accord  with 
the  spirit  of  our  history  and  the  institutions  of 
our  government — a  spirit  that  first  took  root  in 
the  Baptist  colony  of  Rhode  Island,  and  in  the 
Catholic  colony  of  Maryland,  and  later  was 


CARDINAL  FARLEY  353 

incorporated  into  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Vir- 
ginia, in  the  Statute  of  Religious  Freedom 
penned  by  the  immortal  hand  of  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson. 

Our  democracy,  which  has  changed  our  form 
of  government,  has  likewise  changed  our  social 
life,  our  relations  one  to  another,  and  given 
us  a  more  hopeful  outlook ;  it  has  also  changed, 
not  lessened  but  rather  intensified,  our  appre- 
ciation of  religion,  and  instead  of  blind  sub- 
serviency has  given  us  an  intelligent  esteem 
and  fuller  appreciation  of  the  character  and 
services  of  our  religious  leaders. 

Radicalism  in  the  United  States  gets  little 
support  from  our  people,  because  with  awak- 
ened intelligence  they  learn  to  know  that  the 
rights  of  each  consonant  with  the  liberty  of  all 
lay  at  the  basis  of  our  system  of  democracy. 
All  appeals  to  class  feeling,  or  to  sectarianism, 
as  a  basis  of  support  or  favor  in  our  economic, 
social  and  public  life,  are  promptly  resented 
by  our  people  of  all  creeds  as  inimical  to  the 
spirit  of  fair  play  in  our  democracy,  who  over- 
whelm the  demagogue  and  fanatic  with  con- 
tempt and  condemnation. 

The  spirit  of  bigotry  was  never  more  force- 
fully   and   authoritatively    rebuked    than   by 


354         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

President  Roosevelt  after  the  last  national 
election,  in  reply  to  letters  addressed  to  him 
during  the  campaign  with  a  purpose  of  influ- 
encing the  election  by  the  writers,  some  of 
whom  urged  against  Mr.  Taft  that  he  was  a 
Unitarian,  and  others  that  members  of  his 
family  were  suspected  of  being  members  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  In  his  reply,  which  was 
widely  published  in  the  press  of  the  country, 
President  Roosevelt  said: 

You  stated  that  the  mass  of  the  voters  that  are 
not  Catholics  will  not  support  a  man  for  any  office, 
especially  for  President  of  the  United  States,  who 
is  a  Roman  Catholic.     I  believe  when  you  say  this 
you  foully  slander  your  fellow  countrymen.     I  do 
not  for  one  moment  believe  that  the  mass  of  our 
fellow-citizens,  or  any  considerable  number  of  our 
fellow-citizens,   can  be  influenced  by  such  narrow 
bigotry  as  to  refuse  to  vote  for  any  thoroughly  up- 
right and  fit  man  because  he  happens  to  have  a 
particular    religious    creed.     Such    a    consideration 
should  never  be  treated  as  a  reason  for  either  sup- 
porting  or   opposing   a    candidate    for   a    political 
office  ...  I  believe  that  this  Republic  will  endure 
for  many  centuries.     If  so,  there  will  doubtless  be 
among  the   Presidents,   Protestants   and    Catholics, 
and  very  probably  at  some  time  Jews.     I  have  con- 
sistently tried,  while  President,  to  act  in  relation  to 
my   fellow-Americans  of  Catholic  faith  as  I  hope 


CARDINAL  FARLEY  355 

that  any  future  President,  who  happens  to  be  a 
Catholic,  will  act  toward  his  fellow-Americans  of 
Protestant   faith. 

This,  my  friends,  is  the  true  American  doc- 
trine exemplifying  the  spirit  of  the  founders 
of  our  democracy,  upon  which  our  Republic 
was  builded  and  by  which  alone  it  can  be  pre- 
served to  shed  its  continuing  blessings  upon 
us  and  our  descendants  from  generation  to 
generation. 


XXI 

WILLIAM  LYNE  WILSON 
A  TRIBUTE 


XXI 
WILLIAM  LYNE  WILSON:  A  TRIBUTE 

WILLIAM  LYNE  WILSON  was  born  in 
Jefferson  county,  Virginia  (which  is 
now  West  Virginia),  on  May  3,  1843.  He 
died  at  Lexington,  Virginia,  on  October  17, 
1900,  in  his  fifty-eighth  year.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Charlestown  Academy  and  Columbian 
College,  Washington,  D.  C,  where  he  was 
graduated  in  1860.  After  graduation  Mr.  Wil- 
son attended  the  University  of  Virginia;  but 
when  the  war  broke  out,  he  enlisted  as  a  pri- 
vate in  the  Confederate  army,  and  he  contin- 
ued as  such  until  the  end.  After  the  war  he 
became  professor  of  Latin  in  Columbian  Uni- 
versity, and  shortly  afterward  he  married  Miss 
Huntington,  daughter  of  the  Greek  professor 
in  that  University. 

When  the  ''iron-clad  oath'*  was  repealed  in 
West  Virginia,  Mr.  Wilson  returned  to 
Charlestown  and  there  practised  law  until 
1882,  when  he  accepted  the  presidency  of  West 

359 


360         THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

Virginia  University.  Only  two  weeks  after 
accepting  this  office,  through  one  of  those  con- 
tingencies that  often  happen  in  our  political 
life,  he  was  induced  to  accept  the  nomination  as 
the  candidate  of  his  party  for  Congress,  and 
he  was  elected  by  a  bare  majority  of  nine  votes. 
He  continued  in  Congress  for  six  successive 
terms  until  1895,  when,  by  reason  of  his  con- 
spicuous advocacy  of  tariff  reform  and  the 
change  of  sentiment  following  that  agitation 
in  many  parts  of  the  country,  he  was  defeated. 
As  chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Representatives  he 
framed  the  law  known  as  the  Wilson  Bill ;  but 
because  of  the  hopeless  division  of  his  party, 
it  was  mutilated  by  four  hundred  amendments, 
so  that,  as  finally  passed,  it  no  longer  em- 
bodied the  principles,  but  at  best  only  a  rem- 
nant of  the  tendency,  for  which  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  had  contended. 

In  1895  he  was  appointed  Postmaster  Gen- 
eral in  President  Cleveland's  cabinet,  and  at 
the  expiration  of  his  term  he  was  elected 
President  of  Washington  and  Lee  University 
at  Lexington,  which  office  he  held  when  he  died. 

This  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  life  of  a  man 
who  filled  every  place  he  held  with  conspicu- 


WILLIAM  LYNE  WILSON         361 

ous  modesty  and  rare  ability.  He  was  known 
as  the  Scholar  in  Politics,  since  throughout 
his  public  career  he  displayed  such  scholarly 
research  and  thorough  understanding  of  the 
questions  that  came  up  for  consideration. 

William  L.  Wilson  was  a  remarkable  man, 
an  ideal  official;  he  typified  all  that  is  best  in 
American  statesmanship — a  scholar  by  incli- 
nation, by  temperament  and  by  training — a 
statesman  by  the  breadth,  the  depth  and  the 
soundness  of  his  views,  which  were  never  ob- 
scured by  temporary  phases  or  by  party  ex- 
pediency. With  his  thorough  and  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  political  development  of  the 
country,  he  possessed  the  rare  faculty  of  con- 
vincing oratory  which  appealed  with  sugges- 
tive force  and  power  to  the  minds  of  his  fel- 
low citizens,  whether  on  the  stump  in  his  na- 
tive district  or  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  or 
before  public  assemblages  in  many  cities. 
Though  he  was  in  the  forefront  in  some  of  the 
most  hotly  contested  issues  that  have  agitated 
political  parties  during  the  past  twenty  years, 
yet  the  sweetness  of  his  character  and  broad- 
ness of  his  views,  which  reflected  themselves 
in  his  every  utterance,  had  a  charm  to  elevate 
even  his  opponents  above  the  petty  wrangles 


362  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

and  bitternesses  engendered  by  party  strife. 
He  never  said  an  unkind  word,  and  never  did 
an  inconsiderate  act.  No  man  ever  went  from 
the  halls  of  Congress  carrying  with  him  a 
higher  measure  of  esteem  and  affection  from 
his  colleagues  on  both  sides  of  the  house  than 
William  L.  Wilson. 

This  is  not  the  time  or  place  to  discuss  the 
correctness  of  his  conclusions  on  tariff  ques- 
tions ;  but  this  much  must  be  said  even  by  those 
who  differed  with  him,  that  his  philosoph- 
ical and  scholarly  arguments  have  a  perma- 
nent value  for  the  proper  study  of  the  princi- 
ples that  underlie  revenue  legislation,  as  well 
as  whether  under  a  democratic  government  it 
be  just  and  equitable  to  levy  imposts  for  pur- 
poses of  protection  as  distinguished  from  the 
needs  for  economical  administration.  He  had 
the  statesman's  instinct  for  searching  out  the 
fundamental  principles  of  every  public  ques- 
tion, and  the  methods  and  mental  qualities  of 
a  philosopher  to  measure  those  principles  by 
the  permanent  standards  of  equity  and  justice. 
To  the  public  good,  he  gave  his  untiring 
efforts,  and  he  has  enriched  the  public  serv- 
ice by  a  life's  work  of  high  ideals,  of  broad 
and  constructive  statesmanship,  and  by  un- 


WILLIAM  LYNE  WILSON         363 

swerving  loyalty  and  unselfisli  devotion  to 
public  duty,  whicli  will  enshrine  Ms  memory 
among  the  foremost  scholarly  leaders  of  polit- 
ical thought  in  our  country  during  the  closing 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 


XXII 

EDWAED  MORSE  SHEPARD: 
A  TRIBUTE 


ixxn 

EDWARD  MORSE  SHEPARD: 
A  TRIBUTE 

EMERSON  said  of  Lord  Chatham  that 
those  who  listened  to  him  always  felt 
there  was  something  higher,  nobler,  finer,  in 
the  man  than  in  anything  he  said.  So  it  often 
is  with  those  exceptional  and  remarkable  per- 
sonages who  exert  the  widest  influence  upon 
their  surroundings — the  largest  part  of  their 
power  is  latent,  a  reserve  force.  This  re- 
serve force  few  possessed  in  a  higher  degree 
than  Edward  M.  Shepard.  It  made  itself  felt 
not  only  in  his  conversation,  but  also  in  his 
public  addresses  and  equally  in  his  writings. 
This  silent  power,  which  was  so  apparent  to 
those  who  knew  our  friend,  was  the  effulgence 
of  his  pure,  noble,  and  inspiring  character,  and 
of  his  unswerving  devotion  to  right  as  God 
gave  him  to  see  the  right. 

He  was  a  Democrat  by  tradition,  by  convic- 
tion,  and  by  sympathy  with  the   struggling 

367 


368  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

masses.  In  one  of  liis  addresses  he  summed 
up  Ms  political  creed  in  the  following  words : 
*'The  Government  should  make  the  least  pos- 
sible demand  upon  the  citizen,  and  the  citizen 
the  least  possible  demand  upon  the  Govern- 
ment. ' ' 

While  in  his  life  and  in  his  nature  he  was 
ever  helpful,  most  generously  helpful  to  others, 
especially  to  young  men  who  came  to  him  for 
advice  and  guidance,  politically  in  his  writings 
and  addresses  he  continually  dwelt  upon  the 
independence  of  citizenship,  insisting  that  the 
individual  should  have  the  pride  of  self-sup- 
port and  refuse,  whether  by  device  or  through 
the  power  of  majorities,  to  cast  his  burden 
upon  others. 

His  highest  aim  in  life  was  to  render  serv- 
ice. He  was  innately  modest  and  retiring,  and 
the  principal  attraction  that  public  oJBQce  had 
for  him  was  the  opportunity  it  afforded  to 
render  the  greatest  possible  service  to  his  fel- 
low-men. This  fact  is  evident  in  his  many 
public  addresses,  and  in  his  political  speeches, 
many  of  which  were  delivered  in  heated  cam- 
paigns, and  nowhere  do  we  find  that  he  ever 
descended  from  principles  to  personalities; 
they  were,  without  exception,  elevated,  free 


EDWARD  MORSE  SHEPARD      369 

from  invective  and  personal  bitterness;  his 
opponents  were  never  Ms  foes,  and  with  that 
generosity  of  temperament  which  he  displayed 
upon  all  occasions,  he  attributed  to  his  oppo- 
nents the  same  rectitude  of  purpose  that  ever 
actuated  and  guided  him.  His  appeals  were 
always  to  the  intellect,  and  never  to  the  pas- 
sions or  prejudices  of  his  auditors.  He  was 
preeminently  the  scholar  and  philosopher  in 
politics  as  in  all  his  public  activities.  He  was 
never  a  carping  critic,  but  a  leader,  instructor 
and  guide.  He  was  ever  ready  to  give  his 
time,  his  thoughts  and  his  voice,  amid  the  en- 
grossing occupation  of  an  exacting  profession, 
in  educating  people  to  a  better  understanding 
of  their  rights  and  duties  under  our  democratic 
system  of  government.  He  was  most  tolerant, 
socially,  politically  and  religiously.  His  deep- 
ly religious  and  spiritually  tolerant  attitude 
of  mind  was  made  most  apparent  in  his  splen- 
did defense  of  Dr.  Crapsey,  who  was  tried 
for  heresy.  His  argument  will  remain  as  a 
chapter  of  light  and  leading  in  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal history  of  our  day. 

We  cannot  but  regret  that  he  did  not  give 
us  more  from  his  pen,  which  wrote  the  history 
of  Van  Buren  and  his  times,  which  in  scholar- 


370  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

ship,  style,  and  clearness  of  vision  of  past  po- 
litical events  is  a  real  contribution  to  our  na- 
tional history  and  political  literature.  He 
took  part  in  many  political  contests,  wherein 
he  won  moral  victories  that  will  last  and  will 
reward  his  brave  and  chivalrous  efforts  with 
the  crown  of  gratitude  for  his  courageous 
stand  against  unrighteous  greed  and  political 
corruption. 

When  these  buildings  were  dedicated,  I  was 
privileged  to  take  part  with  Mr.  Shepard  in 
the  ceremonies,  and  no  one  could  fail  to  ob- 
serve the  pleasure  and  pride  he  felt  in  the  ful 
filment  of  his  long  cherished  wish  to  see  this 
great  people's  college  suitably  housed  and 
equipped  for  its  high  and  noble  functions.  No 
son  of  any  university  gave  more  of  his  heart 
and  soul,  thought  and  time  to  the  development 
of  his  college  than  he  gave  to  this,  his  Alma 
Mater,  not  only  because  it  was  his  Alma  Ma- 
ter, but  because  it  is  the  people's  university 
of  this  great  metropolitan  city,  destined  to 
train  thousands  to  useful  citizenship. 

His  devotion  to  education  here  and  else- 
where will  be  his  living  monument.  Just  as 
Jefferson  directed  that  there  should  be  in- 
scribed upon  his  tomb,  not  his  service  as  a 


EDWAED  MORSE  SHEPARD      371 

public  officer,  as  a  minister  of  state,  as  a  dip- 
lomat, and  as  President,  but  as  the  founder  of 
the  university  of  his  commonwealth,  so  let  the 
world  remember  Edward  M.  Shepard  as  the 
guardian  of  higher  education  for  the  masses, 
the  true  democrat,  the  friend  of  the  sons  of 
the  people. 


xxni 

JOHN  HAY:  A  TRIBUTE 


xxin 

JOHN  HAY:  A  TEIBUTE 

ON  Fame's  eternal  camping-ground"  his 
memory  is  guarded,  and  no  memorial  we 
can  consecrate,  no  words  we  may  utter,  can 
add  to  his  laurels  or  to  the  glory  of  his 
achievements.  His  services  to  his  country  are 
imperishably  recorded  upon  the  pages  of  our 
national  history.  Our  country  has  been  pecul- 
iarly fortunate  in  the  leaders  of  its  policies 
during  its  critical  periods;  the  public  serv- 
ices of  Jefferson,  John  Quincy  Adams,  Seward, 
and  Hay  mark  notable  epochs  in  our  foreign 
relations.  Each  in  his  time  extended  the  hori- 
zon of  our  nation's  power  and  influence,  and 
each  interpreted  her  ''manifest  destiny"  so  as 
to  throw  additional  safeguards  around  our  in- 
stitutions, and  to  vitalize  the  spirit  of  freedom. 
It  is  at  times  impossible  to  understand 
properly  the  exceptional  achievements  and  ex- 
traordinary lives  of  some  men  unless  we  recog- 

375 


376  THE  AMEEICAN  SPIRIT 

nize  a  Superior  Power  that  guided  their  genius 
and  their  footsteps  for  the  accomplishment  of 
their  transcendent  tasks.  Certainly,  Lincoln 
belonged  to  this  class.  The  young  secretary 
"whom  he  took  with  him  from  Springfield  was 
cast  in  a  more  refined  and  delicate  mold  than 
his  rugged  chief,  yet  the  same  spirit  that  glowed 
in  the  great  heart  of  the  one,  animated  with  its 
light  and  warmth  the  sympathetic  soul  of  the 
other.  For  many  years,  as  the  alert  and  tact- 
ful Secretary  of  Legation  in  the  leading  capi- 
tals of  the  old  world,  John  Hay  acquired  a 
knowledge  of  the  intricacies  of  diplomacy  and 
the  susceptibilities  of  European  chancelleries, 
which  proved  of  inestimable  value  during  the 
seven  important  and  trying  years  when  he 
held  the  portfolio  of  State. 

I  will  not  speak  of  John  Hay's  distinction 
as  poet,  historian,  and  litterateur;  I  will  only 
touch  in  brief  outline  upon  his  diplomatic 
achievements.  The  cardinal  principles  of  his 
foreign  policy  were  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and 
the  Golden  Rule.  In  the  carrying  forward  of 
these  principles  under  the  sympathetic  guid- 
ance of  his  chiefs — McKinley  and  Roosevelt — 
he  discarded  the  traditional  diplomatic  meth- 
ods ;  sincerity  and  directness  characterized  all 


JOHN  HAY  377 

his  negotiations,  and  the  nations  soon  learned 
to  rely  upon  his  every  act  and  representation 
with  justified  confidence.  Because  of  this, 
without  even  the  instrument  of  a  formal  treaty, 
he  secured  the  ''Open  Door"  and  the  ''Ad- 
ministrative Entity"  of  China,  the  partition  of 
which,  had  it  not  been  arrested,  contained  the 
elements  of  world-wide  and  world-involving 
war. 

The  Venezuela  controversy,  the  Alaska- 
Boundary  contention,  and  the  Clayton-Bulwer 
Treaty  that  lay  across  the  path  of  the  Isth- 
mian Canal,  he  led  to  equitable  and  peaceful 
solution ;  and  he  confounded  the  pessimists  and 
scoffers  by  injecting  life  and  action  into  the 
inanimate  body  of  the  newly  created  world's 
court,  the  International  Tribunal  at  The  Hague. 
He  was  at  the  helm  of  the  nation's  diplomacy, 
as  our  country  moved  through  rocks  and  shoals 
from  comparative  obscurity  to  a  position  of 
primacy  among  the  powers  of  the  world.  The 
prestige  this  acquired  power  had  given  he  used 
as  it  should  always  be  used,  for  no  selfish  pur- 
poses, and  for  no  narrow  ends,  but  to  draw  to 
the  attention  of  nations  the  duties  which  their 
close  inter-relations  not  only  justified  but 
necessitated. 


378  THE  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

He  emphasized  tlie  principle  of  internation- 
alism, that  national  wrongs  are  of  interna- 
tional concern,  and  that  suffering  from  op- 
pression in  one  country  often  casts  its  pitiable 
wreckage  upon  the  hospitable  shores  of  other 
lands,  however  far  removed.  His  Russian  and 
Roumanian  Notes  will  remain  as  classics  in 
the  ''Diplomacy  of  Humanity" — a  diplomacy 
which  received  its  greatest  impetus  from  his 
magic  pen  and  his  humane  soul.  "It  is  the 
prerogative  of  an  injured  State,"  are  his 
words,  "to  point  out  the  evil  and  to  make  re- 
monstrance ;  for  with  nations,  as  with  individ- 
uals, the  social  law  holds  good,  that  the  right 
of  each  is  bounded  by  the  right  of  the  neigh- 
bor." 

It  may  be  asked,  Why  have  we  assembled 
here  in  the  temple  of  our  ancient  people,  whose 
history  and  sacred  law  run  back  to  the  dawn 
of  time  and  enshrine  the  memories  of  Moses 
and  the  Prophets? — a  people  whose  records 
are  crimsoned  with  national  tragedies  running 
through  two  thousand  years,  from  Titus  to 
Nicholas  II?  It  is  because  America  recog- 
nizes in  John  Hay  a  personality  whose  visioned 
eyes  windowed  the  soul  of  a  prophet,  whose 
lips    worded    the    majestic    imagery    of    the 


JOHN  HAY  379 

Psalmists,  and  whose  patriotic  heart  throbbed 
with  the  divine  spirit  of  the  Golden  Kule. 

In  conclusion  let  me  quote  the  final  stanza 
of  his  beautiful  psalm' 

Whenever  man  oppresses  men 

Beneath  the  liberal  sun, 
0  Lord,  be  there ;  Thine  arm  made  bare, 

Thy  righteous  will  be  done. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


#  RENEWAL*^  APR  ll  7  B6E 


m 


271 


Form  L-9 
£0m.-12, '39(3386) 


966 


SEP  2 6 1972  ""^ 


UC  SOUTHtRN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  fACILITY 


PLEA-S  DO  NOT   REMOVE 
THIS  BOOK  CARD^ 


.i^^immra 


Uni 


versify  Research  Library 


I  CD  I—,  ^ 


pi- 

llll! 

■^^^^^^H 

i  ,  , 

lii 

;  1  : 

